Ready Player Three
by LuluCalliope
Summary: Three fangirls are sucked into the Sugar Rush game. Once there, they must uncover the history and mystery of an arcade, the other games, and glitches...both good and bad. In the process, they meet their matches and team up with unlikely allies to defeat the greatest threat to the world of video games. Turbo/OC, Knuckles/OC, Bowser/OC. Rated for language, violence, and sex.
1. Chapter 1

_For those of you who have been following the Fan Girl series (started by x-The Devil's Advocate-x and currently under my "management"), you must know by now that I've been on a long hiatus from my two stories…the truth of the matter is that during these past few months, I've been undergoing a lot of changes, mentally and emotionally. I'm totally fine, but I feel like I've matured a lot. The bad news is that I will not be continuing the Finding Nemo story because I have lost interest in it. The good news is that the Roger Rabbit story will be continued and finished, and I am now beginning another Fan Girl story, featuring me, Jenna, and Alicia. This one is set in the Wreck-It Ralph universe._

_Daily updates will not begin until next Saturday, when I return from Key West._

Chapter One

Another one of the famous fan girl sleepovers was taking place at Lulu's house. The usual guests were present (Alicia and Jenna), and the usual activities were being done. "How would you react if an evil Mickey Mouse costume came out of your closet in the middle of the night and started to take its own head off?" Alicia asked Jenna, never taking her eyes away from the computer screen as they dove into the wonders and horrors of Creepypasta. Alicia and Lulu had found a new obsession in the form of Creepypasta tales. They had read so many of these urban legends already, but by far the two creepiest were called MARIO and . Both contained a video game protagonist corrupted, gruesome crimes, and the murder of beloved co-stars…

"Stop reading that stuff and watch the movie!" Lulu whined, turning up the volume on the television. "You're gonna get nightmares if you keep reading those stories!"

"I already have," Alicia whispered to Jenna, and they cracked up before joining Lulu in front of the television, bowls of popcorn in their laps. The three friends were so alike that they could have been mistaken for sisters. All had brown hair, big eyes, and pretty facial features…not to mention an insane love for Disney and video games. And why have one of those when you could have both? This was their motivation for watching Wreck-It Ralph, the latest (and, in Lulu's opinion, the best) movie to come from Disney.

"Oh, my gosh, there's Bowser!" Jenna gasped, pointing at the screen when the villain from the Mario universe appeared, sitting next to Dr. Robotnik from the Sonic series. What was unfortunate was that the scene with him only lasted for a few minutes, and then the story continued to focus on the anti-hero, Wreck-It Ralph. "Does he come back?" Jenna asked, crossing her fingers for luck. Lulu giggled and shook her head.

"What's so great about him?" She teased. Jenna shot her a look of amusement.

"Do you really have to ask? He's a king! And he's strong, smart, cool, funny…" Lulu and Alicia snorted a little at the smart part, but decided to focus on the movie. Now Sonic was on the screen, and Alicia scowled a little.

"I wish that Knuckles was in here," she pouted.

"Ugh, I know, right?" Lulu sighed. "It would be awesome if he, Sonic, Mario, and Luigi teamed up and kicked major butt! That's every video game nerd's wet dream!" Alas, she didn't seem too interested in the retro game characters. In fact, she perked up at the appearance of King Candy, the jovial monarch of the Sugar Rush Racers game. "Oh, animated person who has the voice of Ed Wynn, one day you and I shall rule this world together!" She proclaimed, blowing a kiss at the screen.

"But then he dies!" Alicia pointed out during the climax, and Lulu scowled.

"He could come back, you know," she pointed out. "If he's part of the game, then—"

"SHUSH, I haven't seen this!" Jenna interrupted, shooting daggers at them both. They watched the wonderful—almost perfect—resolution which had Vanellope crowned the Princess/President of her own game, Ralph being deemed a hero, and Calhoun marrying Fix-It Felix.

"Now _that_ was a great Disney movie!" Lulu declared before switching off the television. "Who wants to watch it again in the morning?" All three girls raised their hands, burst into a laughing fit, and had a small pillow fight before they fell asleep, unaware of the excitement that would await them when they opened their eyes...

* * *

Lulu was the first to wake up. She realized that she was no longer in her house, and she was no longer a human…at least, not a regular one. Jenna and Alicia realized the same thing as they stirred and stood up. Some things hadn't changed at all, like the color of their hair, their eyes, their skin, and so on. But what were different were their wardrobes. They now looked like they were wearing frilly outfits made from…candy wrappers? And the world they were in was way too bright and colorful to be Lulu's house. There was candy everywhere!

She sighed and smirked at her friends. "It's another one of these days, right?" After Alicia and Jenna nodded their excitement and agreement, she tossed her head back and shouted at the sky, "Bring it on, universe! The Fan Girls have returned!"

* * *

_I seriously cannot tell you how excited I am about this story. The adventures shall continue next week. Tune in then! LOL_

_Review, please! :)_


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry that I couldn't upload this chapter yesterday, but the airport was CRAZY. *rolls eyes* Anyway, starting today and tomorrow, daily updates will happen!**

**Jenna—Oh, yeah, the Sugar Rush racers are dressed like they're candy bars. And Key West was wonderful. I'm going to upload a picture of the world's fattest cat to deviantart tomorrow! LOL**

**Alicia—I know, right? And now that the three of us are together, the fun has been tripled! Huzzah!**

**Raccon Girl—Black is introduced in this chapter. I know that we spent a lot of time together planning her role in this story, and even then, it's not perfect. Does this seem okay, or should I go back and edit this chapter tomorrow?**

**Greatbigsealover44—Hello! How is one of my favorite reviewers doing? *hugs* Thanks for reviewing this story! You rock!**

**Writer1999—Was this chapter worth the wait? ;)**

**AnonymousZGirl—Thanks for reviewing! I hope this chapter meets your expectations!**

**Supersaiyan3goku—Yes, this takes place during the movie. And I'm glad this meets with your approval. :)**

Chapter Two

"Okay, so how is this going to work?" Lulu asked, not really freaking out. She tapped a finger to her chin as she pretended to think. "We're going to find somebody to help us out, that person will mistake us for other people, and then we'll soon be having the time of our lives with our dream crushes."

"Bingo," Jenna nodded, pointing out the figure of a girl in the distance. She was busy fixing the racing kart she seemed to own, and she hadn't heard or noticed the newcomers.

"Hey, excuse me!" Alicia called out, and the girl turned. What startled the girls most about her was the color of her eyes: dark red. But they gazed upon the newcomers warmly. Her skin was a pale white, which clashed with her outfit (black jacket with red trimming, black shirt with red stripes, black cupcake skirt with red trimming, black and red leggings, and black boots). But it did match her black hair, which was held in a braid by two strands of black licorice. She abandoned her kart and went to greet the strangers.

"We're kind of new here," Jenna explained once the girl was in front of them. They estimated that she was no older than ten, no younger than twelve.

"I thought you were!" The girl exclaimed. "King Candy said something about new characters being added to the game! You must be them! I'm Black, by the way," she added. "Black Licoricetwist, racer by nature!"

"Black isn't a name, it's a color," Jenna chuckled. Black's eyes narrowed.

"Hey, if the other racers can be named after candy bars, then I can be named after a color," she retorted, kicking at a pebble. "Besides, I didn't choose my name. The game creators did. And I happen to like my name," she added, "even though they don't." As she spoke, some karts became visible in the distance, getting closer and closer to them. Jenna counted at least ten. At the head of the group was the second-best racer in the game, Taffyta Muttonfudge. She parked her vehicle and stepped out, glaring at Black and twirling a lollipop between her fingers.

"Well, well, if it isn't Tacky Blacky," Taffyta sneered. "Who are these noobs?" The fan girls gasped. None of them were noobs. They had played almost every Sonic game out there. Lulu had kicked her brother's butt at Super Smash Bros. on many occasions. But Black had their back.

"They're the new characters to the game, Tacky-ta," she replied. "Are you going to save your steam for the track, or am I going to have to teach you a lesson right now?"

"King Candy will throw you in the fungeon if you hurt any of us," the blond-haired girl scoffed, but she took a tentative step backwards, towards the safety of her kart. Black rolled her eyes.

"Why are you even here?" She asked. "Why are any of you here?" She added, scowling at the other racers. "Don't you know that if you hang around here, you might start to get un-cool…or worse," she whispered, a playful smirk appearing on her face. "You might become a virus. Oh, wait," she paused. "I just remembered. You're all a bunch of Trojan Horses: you look so sweet on the outside, but you're all icky and rotten on the inside. You're lucky that I haven't gotten food poisoning from any of you!"

"Oh, yeah?" A green-haired racer named Candlehead cried out, stuttering as she tried to come up with a good comeback. "You're…you're…so icky that nobody wants to race as you!" Some of her friends nodded at this insult, as if to say it was a valiant effort. But Black and her three friends didn't even wince.

"Candlehead, last time I checked, it was dangerous to use too much brain power in one sitting," the bold racer yawned. "And if you think too much now, you won't be able to tell the steering wheel from the brakes when you're racing."

"Seriously, guys, let's just go," a red-haired girl named Jubileena interrupted as the cheers and shouts of crowds sounded in the background. "It's almost time to race." She hopped into her car, the Cherriot, and drove off towards the track. Some of her friends followed, but Taffyta and Candlehead remained, along with a boy racer, Rancis.

"Are you sure you can even afford to race today?" He asked, feigning concern. "I mean, buying parts for a kart is expensive, and knowing the Glitch, she must have broken everything you purchased by now."

Black's eyes narrowed. "Leave Vanellope out of this," she warned. But Candlehead and Rancis were already in their karts and preparing to drive away. Taffyta smirked once more, flicked her lollipop in Black's face, and joined her two friends. Black watched them leave, absolute hatred on her face.

"Those guys are jerks," she muttered. "I'm going to kick Taffyta's butt today while we're racing, I swear!" She grinned at the other girls. "And, if I'm not mistaken, your karts will be waiting for you at the race track. Today you'll get to race for the first time! And because this will be your first race, you don't have to pay. I know you'll be great at it. Let's go!" She took off towards her kart, motioning for the others to hop in.

"I suck at Mario Kart," Lulu whined. "How is this game going to be any different?"

"Guess we'll find out." Jenna grinned, taking off after Black. Alicia shrugged and followed. But as she slid into the kart, she remembered something important.

"None of us have our driver's licenses yet."

"You don't need a license to race in Sugar Rush," Black beamed, and the car sped off in the direction of the cheering…

* * *

_Sorry for the long wait, you guys. But starting tomorrow, the daily updates shall continue!_

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl. (And, might I add, she is the first OC to be featured in the fan girl series!)_

_Review, please! :)_


	3. Chapter 3

**Jenna—I'm so sorry about your cat, LOL. But here's how you can cheer it up: tell it that there is no way that it will ever be as obese as Olivia the cat from Ernest Hemingway's house. Thanks for reviewing! You rock!**

**Raccon Girl—I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you love this one, too! I'll send you some more ideas for the next chapter later!**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—I did have a wonderful time on vacation, but I'm glad to be back…on one hand. On the other hand, school starts tomorrow. *gulps* Thanks for reviewing!**

**supersaiyan3goku****—****I love your nickname for her! I might have to use it later (if that's okay with you). Thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Three

"Vanellope is NOT a glitch, by the way," Black barked out when they arrived at the track. "She's just got pixlexia." But the three girls weren't paying attention to her at this point. They had arrived at the amazing race track, and were glancing around, admiring the clusters of candy-like onlookers. And the racers were lined up by the starting line in their cars, determined looks on their faces. Their eyes were clearly on the prize. Alicia counted them up and was surprised to see that, in addition to the ten racers from before, there were a few others, the most prominent being the famous King Candy, laughing and talking to one of the other racers from his own vehicle. And then there were three karts without racers inside. "Those must be for you guys!" Black realized, parking her kart next to Taffyta's Pink Lightning. The three girls grinned at each other and ran over to inspect their cars. Alicia picked a red one (the Scarlet Striker), Jenna picked a creamy one with colorful linings (the Rocky Roadster), leaving Lulu with a dark brown kart called the Galaxy Glazer.

"And we are joined today by the anticipated new game characters," Sour Bill declared, his voice flat and uninterested. "They are Alicia Rish, Lulu Smarties-Pants, and Jenna Jella-Beans." Polite applause erupted from the stadiums. Taffyta looked at Lulu and smiled.

"So, you're not just a noob? You're a nerd! The worst kind of noob is a noob with no life!" She proclaimed.

"If you shut your pie hole now, I'll make sure that your defeat is swift and not totally embarrassing," Lulu hissed. Taffyta rolled her eyes and began to strike up a conversation with Gloyd Orangeboar. This gave Lulu a chance to sneak a peek at King Candy.

Aside from having the voice of the late Ed Wynn, he didn't have a whole lot going for him. Sure, he made her smile and laugh, but in the looks department, he was hopeless. She shook her head and turned her attention back to Sour Bill's voice. "As a reminder, the rules are simple: the first nine racers to cross the finish line will be given a gold coin and a position on the racing roster tomorrow during gaming hours—"

"My fellow subjects, it gives me great pleasure to say: let the race commence!" King Candy interrupted, the lisp in his voice apparent. A countdown began, ending when the word GO flashed in front of the starting line in elegant green writing. And the karts took off! Lulu was surprised to see that she was able to handle her own car and push ahead of The Swizz and Adorabeezle Winterpop, and even more pleased to see that one of the few racers ahead of her was Black.

"I told you that you'd be great at this, didn't I?" The dark-haired girl laughed. "See, we're almost in the lead! I hope that Taffyta can taste her defeat, because I sure can! Aim for the power-ups!" She added, leaning to the side to get white boxes labeled "Sweet Seekers".

"But where are Jenna and Alicia?" Lulu asked, peering in the side mirrors of her car, hoping to see the Scarlet Striker and the Rocky Roadster right behind her. But she couldn't see them anywhere…

* * *

"Did I forget to mention that I suck at Mario Kart too?" Jenna shouted, struggling to make her car gather speed. She and Alicia were falling way behind the others. This was NOT a good way to make a good impression for the more experienced racing characters. But help did come in a most unusual form.

"Hey, you two, do you need some help?" Snowanna Rainbeau and Minty Zaki had slowed their karts down and were looking at the newcomers with what appeared to be genuine concern. "I don't know if you know about this," Snowanna continued, "but there's a secret way to get your kart over the finish line! Do you know about it?"

"I don't think they do, Snowy," Minty exclaimed, swerving to avoid driving off of the track. The four girls were now in last place, way behind the rest of the others, but Minty and Snowanna didn't seem to mind.

"That would be nice!" Jenna shouted back. "What's the code?"

"Reach under the dashboard," Minty ordered, and Jenna and Alicia did what they were told to do, keeping one eye on the road. "You'll see a keyboard next to a bunch of buttons. Press the buttons in this order: green, purple, red, green, green, purple, and then type in A-1-1-3. After that, press enter, and you should be ahead of the others in no time!"

"But what about you two?" Alicia yelled back. "Are you guys okay with this?"

"We'll catch up!" Minty promised, winking at Snowanna, who grinned and zoomed forward. "See you at the finish line!"

"Let's do this!" Jenna shouted, typing in the code and pushing ENTER. Alicia did the same, and a bright light swallowed them—and their karts—and blinded them. Once their vision cleared, the girls could see that they were now ahead of most of the racers and right behind Black and Lulu. Snowanna and Minty had proven that they were more than able of catching up. In fact, they were no longer in last place, too. Alicia mouthed, "Thank you," to them before rushing forward with much more ease, neck and neck with Jenna.

* * *

Even from a wide distance, Lulu could hear the music blasting from the radio in King Candy's kart. Some hard-core song called "The Game" was playing at full volume, the perfect theme for a determined racer. She rolled her eyes and tried to block out the noise.

But then, much to her surprise, a voice came from her radio. "Hello? Can you hear me? Press the salmon button to talk to me, your lovable lord!"

Lulu groaned and pressed the button. "King Candy, is that you? What do you want?"

"I want to know how it feels to get beaten by a professional!" He taunted.

"The race isn't over yet," she replied. "We'll talk once I get my gold coin."

"Don't hang up on—"

She pressed the salmon button, silencing him. She could see that Black was shouting at her own radio, and she could hear Taffyta's voice faintly in the background. "When I beat you, I'm going to laugh at you, just like you've laughed at me! You got that, Laffy Taffy?"

"You have to catch me if you want to beat me," Taffyta sang back, and Black pushed on, leaving Lulu behind. But once the clouds of sugary dust cleared, Lulu saw the finish line in sight. She cheered and hit the gas, rushing forward. She crossed the line in less than two minutes. Black was already waiting for her, and Taffyta was also there, daintily licking her sucker.

"Ha, ha, ha," she said, faking laughter. "The Swift Snail comes in second…to me, again!" She cried, bursting out with genuine laughter as she ran her hands over Black's kart, the Swift Twist. "Don't worry, Laffy Blacky…you might come in first place one day…in your dreams!" Black grit her teeth together, glaring at the scoreboard with intense hatred. King Candy had crossed the finish line first. Then it had been Taffyta, then her, and Lulu. So close, and yet so far…

* * *

"Ta-da!" Jenna cheered as she rolled across the line. She had come in ninth place, but it was better than losing. Alicia had been ahead of her by one place. The two girls hopped out of their cars and embraced each other, congratulating each other on their success.

"Hey, great job, you guys," Minty complimented, joining the two of them. She and Snowanna hadn't won a spot on the roster, but the two fan girls somehow knew that they didn't mind. Maybe not all of the racers were bad. Maybe they really were trying to help. Maybe they really did want to be friends with the mysterious Vanellope and Black. Maybe—

"And the avatars for tomorrow are: King Candy, Taffyta Muttonfudge, Black Licoricetwist, Lulu Smarties-Pants, Rancis Fluggerbutter, Candlehead, Adorabeezle Winterpop, Snowanna Rainbeau, and Minty Zaki," Sour Bill's voice announced. "Please collect your prize coins."

Wait a minute…what?

"Not bad," Taffyta commented as she walked by Lulu, flanked by Candlehead and Rancis. They had already retrieved their coins, which they flashed in the sunlight. "I mean, not too awful…for a noobie," she coined. The other two giggled.

"That is so unfair!" Jenna protested, running over to Lulu and Black. Alicia nodded, trying to figure things out. Was it possible that Sour Bill had made a mistake? "We crossed the finish line way before they did!" She pointed an accusing finger at Snowanna and Minty. They looked shocked, but then they smiled, gloating at their victory.

"Oops," Minty gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth as she pretended to be guilty. "We must have forgotten to mention that it was a cheat code. Or that you can be disqualified for using it. My bad." She burst out laughing and went to join the other winners, followed by a giggling Snowanna.

Okay, maybe these two girls were evil, just like Taffyta. Seeing them leave reminded Lulu that King Candy had wanted to talk to her about something, but when she tried to look for him, she found that he was nowhere in sight.

"I refuse to spend an entire day waiting to race with these jerks!" Jenna protested, glaring at them. "Besides, this place is starting to give me a stomachache!" She pretended to gag.

"You have a couple of hours before the arcade opens," Black shrugged. "You can go hang out in the other games if you wanted to. Just be sure to meet us back here during gaming hours, okay?"

"What other games are there?" Alicia wondered.

"Oh, man, we have a lot," Black whistled as she tried to name them all. "There's even a new computer game section! But some of the most popular ones are Hero's Duty and Fix-It Felix Junior. But we also have the classics like Mortal Kombat and Pac-Man. I've heard that one of the ghosts holds a special 'intervention' thingy for all the video game bosses. It's one of the only things the bosses have to look forward to. Bowser goes, and so does Dr. Eggman!"

"Are you serious?" Jenna gasped.

"Uh, yeah," Black laughed. "I wouldn't make something like that up!"

"We are SO going there," Jenna declared, grabbing Alicia's arm and pulling her towards what she thought was the video game exit.

"The exit is that way," Black corrected, pointing in the opposite direction. Jenna and Alicia followed her instructions, looking a little sheepish, but mostly excited to see more awesome characters. Lulu watched them leave, knowing that they would have a lot of fun. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous…that is, until Black tugged on the sleeve of her dress. "Come on," she urged. "Let's get our coins and bail on these fudge-heads! You need to meet Vanellope!" Lulu nodded in agreement and followed her towards some strange mountains that stood out, away from all of the other race tracks…

* * *

_The code that Alicia and Jenna use is actually a code used in Paper Mario combined with the signature A113 in-joke from all the Pixar films. (I won't say where to use the color code in the Mario game. You'll have to figure that out for yourself, LOL.)_

_Okay, for the record…why the heck was there a need for Minty Sakura at all? I don't know why they had to change the design of one character for one country. Was the original design controversial in Japan?_

_And thank you, Alicia, for introducing me to the song that plays during the race of this chapter. You rock!_

_Review, please! :)_


	4. Chapter 4

**Alicia—Thanks again for the song! And yeah, I seriously hated those racers for the majority of the movie. (I won't say anything else in case Jenna is reading this. She still hasn't seen the movie yet!)**

**Raccon Girl—Don't worry! Her time to defeat Taffyta will come soon! *insert sneaky laughter***

**Jenna—I know, I would have been happy with being in ninth place, too. I mean, you would have won if it hadn't been for Taffyta's minions. And oh, speaking of Taffyta…you haven't seen anything yet. Be afraid. Be very afraid. And who doesn't love Dimentio?**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—I'm glad that you think that I'm improving as a writer. It's always nice to have positive feedback. And we will get to individual point of views later (actually, in this chapter). But I hope you don't mind. Thanks for reviewing!**

**supersaiyon3goku—I hope you don't mind that I used it, haha. I couldn't resist! Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Four

"Welcome to Game Central Station," a smooth voice announced when Alicia and Jenna left Sugar Rush on a train-like mode of transportation. The two girls looked around in amazement, even more impressed with where they were now than they were back at the Sugar Rush racing track. It was like they were in Grand Central from New York, only with so many cool places to choose from! Where could they go? Jenna was tempted to dash around until she located a sign pointing her to a Mario game, but she was stopped by a safety video of Sonic that was playing in a place where advertisements usually were.

"If you leave your game, stay safe, stay alert! Because if you die outside of your own game, you don't regenerate EVER! Game over!" The blue hedgehog winked at the nonexistent audience and flashed a thumb up before fading off of his screen.

"We'd better keep that in mind," Alicia whispered to Jenna, who nodded once. "So let's just take it one step at a time," Alicia added. "Let's find Pac-Man."

* * *

It had taken the girls a while to locate the entrance to the classic game, but they had found it, resisting the temptations to explore the other games. And there had been a moment of confusion when they couldn't remember if the villains met in the original Pac-Man or in Ms. Pac-Man. They decided to start with the first game, concluding that if they couldn't find any awesome antagonists, then the meeting was being held inside of Ms. Pac-Man.

The interior of Pac-Man was how it appeared to look to the players. The walls glowed a deathly blue while the ground was pitch black, free of the white dots that the protagonist would eat. The girls guessed that the dots were put away during non-gaming hours to make navigating around the maze easier for visitors. The only part of the game that was different was the box where the ghosts went after being eaten by Pac-Man. Inside, there was a spacious room with modest furniture, white walls, and doors leading to other rooms. "They all must live in here after gaming hours!" Jenna realized. "It's like an apartment for them!"

"I've always wondered what it was like inside of here," Alicia remarked, still looking around. One of the many mysteries of the fan girl universe had been solved. She mentally checked this off of her list of things to learn. (Now she was curious to know what it was like inside of the Pokémon balls…maybe a SSB character would happen to know.) Her ears perked up when voices could be heard in one of the other rooms. She and Jenna pushed open one of the doors so that they could peek inside…and they became witnesses to the Bad-Anon meeting in progress!

"Thank you all for coming," one of the ghosts (Clyde, the orange one) was saying. "Today we are going to be talking about our interactions with the protagonists of our games. And today we are joined by somebody new: GLaDOS from the new computer game section of the arcade!" A few claps were heard.

"I'm happy to be here," a robotic female voice declared. As emotionless as she sounded, she did seem to have more passion than Sour Bill did, and that alone made Alicia and Jenna tolerant of her.

"Why don't you start today?" Clyde suggested. "Tell us about a day-to-day conversation with the protagonist of your game."

"She can't talk," GLaDOS said, "so that makes our encounters extremely…one-sided. She does the listening and I do the speaking. In some ways, this is very refreshing. She can't argue with me. But in others, it can be depressing. I sometimes think she wants to tell me something, but there is a failure to communicate somewhere. I know it is with me, but I don't have time to fix it. The game hours need to be longer."

"What do you usually talk to her about?" Clyde wondered.

"Cake," the robot said without hesitation. "During the plot of the game, I promise her that if she can beat me, she will be given a cake. Of course, I have told her that I am programmed to be a compulsive liar, and many of the things I tell her during the climax of our game are lies, such as she was adopted or that she will not be mourned at her own funeral."

"Admitting to her that you are a compulsive liar is a step in the right direction," Clyde assured her. "But still, you shouldn't be so harsh with her."

"It's not like I insult her outside of the game plot," the machine whined. "And I am perfectly willing and able to make for her a cake!"

"They're going to make me hungry if they keep talking about desserts," Alicia whispered to Jenna, who shrugged as a way of answering. But as if to prove her point, Alicia's stomach grumbled.

"Was that you?" "Don't look at me, I just ate!" "I am a machine. My stomach does not rumble." After the voices inside debated for a few moments longer, the door was thrown open all the way, knocking Jenna and Alicia onto the floor. They met the gaze of the cross Clyde. Behind him were some of the other villains.

"What are you doing here?" Eggman asked, placing his hands on his hips. "This is reserved for the Bad-Anon session every Thursday!"

"From what we understood, all of the games are open to the characters when the arcade is closed," Alicia challenged. "Besides, we're new to the arcade and we NEED to explore. We don't even know which game is next to ours!" This was partially true. She remembered Ralph saying that Sugar Rush was located next to the Whack-A-Mole, but she couldn't remember what other games were near the candy-themed game.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance," GLaDOS offered, moving towards them and away from the other members of the meeting. "I apologize in advance, Clyde, for leaving the meeting in a rush. Perhaps we should continue another day?" She didn't wait for a response, but Clyde nodded his approval. "In the meantime, I can help you two out by showing you where the exit to Game Central Station is," she coldly told the two racers. "You'll be pleasantly surprised, I should think, when you realize that Jenna gulped and peeked around her, hoping to get a glimpse at her absolute favorite video game villain of all time…

And there he was! Bowser was sitting right next to Satan, and they appeared to be having a quiet conversation. The devilish foe wasn't happy about the intrusion on the meeting, and Bowser kept glaring at the doorway, also annoyed. Jenna realized that she had one chance to make a better first impression, but she had to act quickly, because GLaDOS kept pushing her and Alicia out of the room—

"OH MY GOSH, YOU'RE BOWSER, I TOTALLY LOVE YOUR WORK!"

Awkward silence was in the room, broken when GLaDOS huffed and succeeded in getting Jenna and Alicia out of the room. Jenna was in such a state of shock and embarrassment that she didn't try to fight it. And she didn't see how the king of the Koopas was reacting, and part of her didn't want to know. "Why did you do that?" Alicia hissed once they were sure that they were out of the villains' earshot. "You never did that around Jafar or any of the others on our last…adventures!"

"That was different," Jenna explained in a whisper. "I don't know if I will ever get to see him again! Remember the amount of screen time he had in the movie? He barely had a line of dialogue!" Alicia couldn't argue with logic like that.

"Keep moving," GLaDOS ordered, and Jenna and Alicia obeyed. They weren't exactly experts with the two Portal games, but something told them that the robotic woman that they were dealing with was someone who they did not want to be on bad terms with…

* * *

The gold coin felt heavy in Lulu's pocket, but she ignored it as her Galaxy Glazer struggled to keep up with the Swift Twist. "So, I was thinking…" Lulu said after she and Black had been driving in silence for a few minutes.

"Did it hurt?" Black joked. Lulu shot her a pretend glare, but laughed.

"If only nine racers are needed each day, why didn't the creators of Sugar Rush only create nine racers total? Wouldn't that have made things a lot easier?" She wondered.

"Maybe, but it wouldn't have been as fun for the gamers or for us. Imagine this: you have a favorite character from your favorite game. Every day you go to the Arcade, see that that character can be accessed, and you have the time of your life playing as him or her. And then you go home and go to bed, but you're hoping that you can still be that character tomorrow." Black paused for breath and pushed some strands of hair behind her ears. "That's what makes the racing in this game really personal. We don't just want to race. We want to make the people outside of our world happy. And, between you and me, the characters in video games have favorite players, just like the players have favorites amongst us."

"I'm guessing Taffyta and King Candy are pretty popular," Lulu muttered, scowling at the thought of having the stereotypical "popular girl" gaining more popularity.

"Well, they have their fans. We all do," Black explained. "Some people even choose to race as me, and I think I can see why. The programmers thought that there was too much 'happy goody', and they created me to look…not 'happy goody'," Black said, smiling a little. "I think they did a good job. Besides," she added, a sneaky smirk appearing on her pale face. "Some of the game players like girls that don't dress like candy canes." She noticed that Lulu was being quiet again, and she sighed. "Sorry if this is boring you."

"Oh, no, no, it isn't!" Lulu corrected quickly. "You've just given me a lot to think about. And now I can sort of understand why this Vanellope friend of yours wants to race so badly. And I totally agree with you: you are unique compared to Laffy Taffy and her clones."

Black laughed when she parked her car. They had reached their destination: the tallest of the mountains. "Welcome to Diet Cola Mountain! This is part of an unfinished stage," Black informed Lulu. "A little while ago, Vanellope found a way to get inside, and she and I have been crashing here ever since. How cool is that?" Lulu was about to answer her, but a shrill voice rang out, silencing her and freezing her in her tracks.

"Halt! Who goes there?"

* * *

_Oops, I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, so I'll mention it here: Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl. (And her speech in this chapter is one of the most thought-provoking things I've had to write in a while...I think.)_

_And yes, I'm putting GLaDOS in here. Shoot me if you must, but I adore the Portal games and couldn't resist putting her in here._

_Ugh, my dad is being such an asshole right now…and I'm too tired to bitch about it. This chapter probably sucks, but whatever. The next one will be better, I think._

_Review, please! :)_


	5. Chapter 5

**Alicia—I'm glad you think so! Here's another chapter! Thanks for reviewing. Keep on rocking!**

**Jenna—I KNOW! I saw Rise of the Guardians last night and I was so swooning over the villain, and I was like, yeah, if I saw this guy in real life, this is how I'd react. Oh, and for future reference… *grabs the villain* MINE. Got it?**

**Guest—To be honest, I wasn't initially planning on having Wheatley in this story, but for you, I'm willing to give him a role. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Raccon Girl—If you look carefully, you'll see that I used some of the dialogue from the PM you sent me here. I hope you don't mind. ;)**

**greatbigsealover44—I guess it does look like fun, but I don't know if I'm willing to give racing a try! Thanks for reviewing!**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—I haven't read the new chapter yet, but I will as soon as I get the chance to. Things have been getting kind of crazy over where I am. *sighs* Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Five

"The Surge Protectors are responsible for keeping the Game Central in check," GLaDOS muttered, sounding like a bored tour guide. She was referring to the blue holographic characters that were stationed by each entrance to the station. They looked and acted a lot like security guards, confiscating any items that were being smuggled outside of a game. One of the Surge Protectors had kept the girls from bringing their race karts into the station, much to their disappointment. "They belong to a group of called C.O.D.E. The Characters Opposing Deliberate Enemies are always ready to stop a threat to the arcade. They are also responsible for keeping characters _where they belong_ during game hours," GLaDOS added with particular emphasis. "This is where you belong, I believe." They had reached the entrance to Sugar Rush, and now GLaDOS was attempting to push the girls back inside of it. "And in answer to your question from earlier, the games next to yours are the Whack-a-Mole and the entrance to the computer section of the arcade. I trust that there will be no further interruptions during the Bad-Anon meeting tomorrow."

"But what if we aren't needed in the game?" Jenna asked, digging her heels into the ground. "Then could we just hang out here?"

"Every character has a function within a game," GLaDOS replied. "Your game will be incomplete without your presence."

"Aw, I didn't think you cared," Jenna mocked, pretending to blush. GLaDOS sighed with annoyance.

"They won't miss us today," Alicia cut in. "We won't be racing because we got disqualified from the random roster race thing." She rolled her eyes. "Apparently using cheat codes is totally fine with players, but not with the actual characters. Is that hypocritical?"

GLaDOS had stiffened. "How could you have known—?"

"Just because our game is new to this arcade doesn't mean that we don't know anything about how to play with others. You know, for a machine that's supposed to be all about science and learning new things, you're awfully close-minded," Alicia observed. GLaDOS bristled, and the girls decided to head back to their sugary sweet game before they caused more trouble. They had placed one foot inside of Sugar Rush when they heard the robotic female calling them back. They returned to her, wondering what she could possibly want with them now. But what she asked them caught them completely off guard.

"Would you two be interested in joining C.O.D.E.?"

* * *

"Van, it's me, Black!" Black shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth, and Lulu breathed a sigh of relief. For a minute there, she thought that one of the candy guards had shown up. But then again, they had done nothing wrong, so why would King Candy be after them?

"If so, then what is the new and improved password?" The mysterious other voice demanded.

"What's the new and improved password?" Black repeated, confused. "I don't know! When did we make up another password?"

"Hah! I made it after Black left!" The voice exclaimed with triumph.

"Then how could I possibly know what it is?" Black demanded, folding her arms and smiling with amusement.

"Good point," the sheepish reply was.

"Can I just tell you what the old password is?" Black asked. "I'll never get it out of my head."

"I don't see why not." Black cleared her throat and recited this strange sentence:

"Candy corn cannot be shared, so I cannot help you to finish yours."

This made little to no sense to Lulu, but it seemed to be the correct answer, because right in front of them appeared the little girl that she had heard so much about. And seeing her in person made it impossible for her to believe that the other racers were capable of hating her. Vanellope was a small, slender ball of energy. Her hair was raven black and her wide eyes were hazel, but almost dark enough to be the color of caramel. She seemed to have a permanent grin on her face, which only grew wider when she saw sixteen-year-old Lulu. "Are you a teenager?"

"Um, yeah, I guess I am," Lulu laughed.

"Great!" Vanellope shouted, jumping for joy. "Now we can adopt you as our official mother! And then we can all team up and put Taffyta in her place!"

"I still don't know why you want to be friends with them," Black muttered. "I mean, you've got me." Vanellope grinned, but this one seemed forced.

"You're awesome, Black, but I sometimes wish I had more friends."

"Tomorrow you're going to meet the other two new racers, Jenna and Alicia!" Black told her, and Vanellope perked up, the enthusiasm behind her smile returning. "And then we're all going to figure out how to make you really race for real!"

"But that's what you said last time," Vanellope reminded her, looking crestfallen. And Lulu jumped back when the little girl turned blue. She seemed to vanish altogether, and where she once stood was replaced with a series of tiny numbers, all in lines. But almost as immediately as it began, it stopped, and Vanellope was back to normal. Lulu blinked. "Ignore my pixlexia," Vanellope mumbled, and Lulu nodded. "Let's just go inside the mountain." Her happy demeanor was back, and she grabbed on to Lulu's hand and tugged her towards the mountain. "You can hang out with us! And we'll stay up late and eat until we're stuffed full of sweets!" Black laughed and grabbed hold of Lulu's other hand, and the three girls raced up to the inside of the mountain.

* * *

"Okay, Lulu Smarties-Pants, tell me how to become a real racer," Vanellope ordered, flopping on top of her makeshift bed and staring at the older girl with adoration in her eyes. She now had a new beacon of hope, and Lulu was determined to not let her down. She bit her lip and pondered the possibilities.

"Is there anything you really need to become an official racer?" She wondered. The racers had insisted that glitches couldn't race, but was that an official part of the game? Did the game creators specifically say that when they planned instructions for the players? Did they even know what a glitch was?

"There are only two qualifications: a coin and a kart," Black said. "And the rules don't exactly say that glitches aren't allowed to race."

"And I'm not a glitch!" Vanellope snapped, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

"That's right, you aren't," Black repeated. "But try telling that to Muttonbutt and her stupid friends."

"Did you ever try hiding in Black's car? That would work, right? Once the race starts, you can get behind the wheel. Nobody would be able to do anything about it! It would mean stopping the whole race!" Lulu was getting super hyped up with this idea, liking it more and more as each second passed.

"We tried that once," Black recalled, and the excitement vanished.

"Let's just say that it didn't end too well," Vanellope added with a scowl. "But it was a pretty good plan," she said with a devilish smirk. Lulu was pacing now, her brow furrowed as she thought. She kept thinking about the two requirements…a coin and a kart. Finally, the pieces clicked together in her head. Well, they sort of did…

"We can worry about getting you a coin later," Lulu promised Vanellope. "Let's just concentrate on getting you a car. We can't buy you a new one, so we'll have to make you one."

"The junkyard would be the best place to go," Black said. "The racers don't go there at all, and it's really out of the way."

"Well, come on!" Lulu grinned, pulling the children to their feet. "Let's go get some parts! We've got a kart to make!"

* * *

_Sorry if this chapter seems a little short. The next one will be longer, I promise. (And I mean it: I spent all of Chemistry planning it out. There will be racing, Sonic, Mario…oops, am I spoiling? I'm sorry…)_

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	6. Chapter 6

**Raccon Girl—I hope you're ready for this chapter, because I sure am!**

**Jenna—In answer to your question…HERE! You will see Bowser here! Yay! And okay, you can have Dimentio. As awesome as he is…I love Pitch more. And hey, Vanellope is the sweetest girl in the world! I would love to be here mother! Anyway, thanks for reviewing! You rock!**

**Alicia—Here you shall share a conversation with two of the most epic video game characters of all time. I hope you're ready!**

Chapter Six

"And so she made you a member? Just like that...? Are you serious?" Black had managed to update the radio inside of the Galaxy Glazer so that the racer could communicate with those outside of the racing arena. And now Lulu was speaking with Jenna and Alicia, shouting to be heard over the rumble of her engine. While she and Black raced, Alicia and Jenna worked with Vanellope to build the kart she needed.

"It was pretty surprising," Alicia admitted.

"Who cares?" Jenna asked. "We get to hang out with Mario and Sonic now! You should come and meet them, Lulu! They're so…" There was a pause as she tried to find the right words. "They're just like they are in the game!"

"I can't," Lulu yelled. She had been selected as a racer by one of the players—a cute Moppet Girl—and had little to no control over her car. And the sudden jerks and shakes make the ride very surprising and exciting to endure, almost like a roller coaster. "I promised Vanellope that I'd work on the kart with her! How's it coming, Van?"

"We're almost finished!" Vanellope replied, full of pride.

"Hey, I want to help some more," Lulu hollered.

"Me too," Black chimed in. She was ahead of Lulu in the race, and had actually been selected by a different player to race against Moppet Girl.

"Ha!" The girl controlling Lulu shouted. "Take that, Mutahar!"

"You haven't won yet," the young man taunted, egging Black onward. The racers fell silent as the two players began to challenge each other. Finally, Black crossed the finish line, coming in first place for a change! Mutahar shouted with delight, and Moppet Girl groaned, admitting defeat. These two players hogged Sugar Rush until it was time to close for the evening.

As soon as the arcade was empty, Taffyta approached Black. "I must say, I am impressed," she complimented, as Black continued to gloat. "I mean, you're not half bad with the help of others," the blond girl continued, and Black's smile faltered. "But when you race by yourself, you are a total loser. I mean, come on."

"Ignore those wads of jerky," Lulu told Black as they watched the bullies depart for their own celebration. Jenna and Alicia glared at the vanishing karts and Vanellope, who had been watching the exchange from afar, watched the cars longingly. "We have a few hours before the random roster race. Let's work on the kart."

"I promised Sonic and Mario that I'd meet with them at Tapper's. Hey, are you going to meet up with us later?" Alicia asked Jenna. "They said that they wanted to tell us about some of the biggest threats to the arcade."

"I'll be there later, I think," Jenna said. "I want to drop by Bad-Anon and apologize to Clyde for what happened yesterday."

"You just want to see Bowser again," Alicia teased. Jenna tried to act like she wasn't blushing, but Alicia continued to tease her until they left Sugar Rush and parted ways, promising to reunite during game hours.

* * *

"Hey, Alicia," Sonic called out, waving once his newest recruit entered the bar-themed game Tapper's. "We saved you a seat!"

"Thanks!" She smiled, sliding into a seat between him and Mario. The bartender slid down three cups of drinks for them, and all three of them drank. "So, what do I need to know about the job?" Alicia asked after her glass was nearly half empty.

"No cuts, no butts, no coconuts," Sonic cracked up. Mario stared at him, not amused. Sonic calmed down and said, "Nothing really. Just be careful out there, alright? And make sure that everyone else is okay! We don't want any more homeless characters on our hands."

"And you know all about Turbo, right?" Mario asked. Alicia shook her head, and Mario explained. "TurboTime was the most popular racing game in the arcade a while back. And the main character, Turbo, loved racing and winning. But when another game got plugged in, he went insane with jealousy. He abandoned his own game and tried to take over the new one! The only thing that accomplished was getting both of the games shut down."

"Wow," Alicia whistled. "That's a little extreme." She closed her eyes, thinking for a moment. "Do you guys mind if I ask you a serious question?"

"Go ahead," Mario told her gently. She finished her drink before continuing the conversation, hoping that her nerves would have calmed down. But she had no such luck.

"Why is GLaDOS so…protective of the arcade? I know that she's only looking out for us, but she can get a little extreme, don't you think? I know it's none of my business, and it's not my place to judge her, but…"

"She's just programmed to be like that," Sonic dismissed with a wave of his hand. "You'll get used to her after a while."

"You can't really blame her for wanting us to be safe after…_they _were installed," Mario added, becoming grim. Alicia had just about had it with the mysteriousness and the dancing around the truth, so she slammed her empty glass onto the table and turned to her favorite heroes.

"Does anyone want to explain to me what _the heck you are talking about_?"

"You really don't know?" Mario blinked. "Oh, no…"

"She shouldn't have to see it," Sonic said, glaring into his drink. "It scarred us for life. And I'm not going to end it all outside of my game…" He noticed the glare that Alicia was giving him, and he cleared his throat. "It's difficult for us to explain, so we'll get GLaDOS to do it for you."

"We'll pay for your drink," Mario offered. "Just go. Once you leave Tapper's, find a robot from Portal—"

"—you know, the ones with the creepy kid voices?"

"—and tell it that you want to go to Portal."

"We'll send GLaDOS a message, and she'll know what to show you once you are inside of her game," Sonic finished. Alicia nodded gratefully at the two of them, but as she left, she heard Sonic say in a stage whisper: "I'll bet you one gold ring that she doesn't make it through the videos without screaming."

"You know that I only pay with coins, not rings," Mario said back, and Alicia gulped and walked out of the game…

* * *

The members of Bad-Anon had not yet arrived when Jenna entered Pac-Man. Clyde was preparing to welcome his guests when Jenna knocked on his door. "Is there something I can help you with?" He asked. He didn't seem to be holding a grudge against her, and that was encouraging enough.

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm really sorry about snooping around here," Jenna blushed. "We really did think that the game was open to the rest of the arcade—"

"Hey, don't worry about," Clyde chuckled. "We should have been more outspoken about the meetings here. You're more than welcome to stay and watch tonight's meeting. We have a new member joining us today: Ralph from Fix-It Felix Junior." Jenna thought about meeting the most famous video game heroes in Tapper's…and decided that they could wait. Bowser was more important.

She had hoped that he would have been the first to arrive at the meeting, but he was the last. Eggman had been the first to walk through the door. He had glared at Jenna and demanded to know why she was here. She attempted to apologize, but he was not going to listen. Jenna gave up on him. At least the other villains were able to listen.

The one villain that had arrived before Bowser was Wreck-It Ralph. He was the only one that Jenna did not have to apologize to for anything. But when Bowser did show up, the meeting started so quickly that she didn't even get the chance to speak to him. "Ralph, why don't you start tonight?" Clyde coaxed, turning to the nine-foot tall giant. Ralph poured his heart and soul out for the group. He talked about not being appreciated, despite having one of the most important roles in his game. "Sometimes I wonder what it's like to not be the villain," Ralph concluded, shocking the other members.

"You're not thinking about going Turbo, are you?" Clyde whispered, turning blue. Bowser was startled so badly that he breathed fire. Jenna had to jump out of the way to avoid getting her hair singed.

"No, no, I'm not," Ralph reassured him, and the ghost returned to his normal color. Jenna spent the rest of the meeting pretending to listen to the rest of the villains talk, but she would sneak glances at Bowser whenever she was able to. Her heart jumped into her throat at the end of the session when it was time for the villains to stand, hold hands, and recite the villain creed. Jenna hesitated for just a moment before grabbing onto Bowser's claw. Her other hand was held by Ralph, who was silent as the rest of the group chanted in unison:

"I am bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

The group broke apart after this, but Jenna finally saw her opportunity when GLaDOS, Eggman, and Bowser departed for Game Central Station. On the ride down, Jenna sat down next to Bowser. After a moment of awkward silence, the two turned to each other and spoke at the same time.

"Sorry for interrupting the meeting yesterday."

"Sorry for almost lighting your hair on fire."

There was another awkward pause. "Does this make us even?" Jenna grinned.

"I guess so. Let's start over." Bowser extended his arm, offering a claw for her to shake. "Hello, my name is Bowser. I am the ruler of the Koopas."

"Excellent!" Jenna said, shaking his claw. "I'm Jenna, and you already know that I am your number one fan!"

"Are you really?" He blurted, his cheeks darkening a little as he spoke. Jenna noticed that his voice, while deep and gruff like she thought it would be, also had the traces of a British accent. Although it was a pleasant distraction, she found herself nodding as a way of answering him.

"I think I must have seen footage of all of your games," she giggled. "If I could play Super Paper Mario, I would totally choose you as the main character."

"Thanks," he mumbled, twirling his fingers—or claws—as he thought of something to say. "I—"

He didn't get to finish. They had arrived at Game Central, and a door burst open, revealing eight familiar faces—seven Koopalings and one Bowser Junior—crowded around the fear of the Mushroom Kingdom and began speaking all at once.

"Daddy, Morton broke my microphone!"

"Larry hit me! He's not sharing any of his stuff!"

"Can I take the clown head and go over to Tapper's? I'll bring it back soon, I promise!"

"How come I don't have my own game yet?"

"Can you tie my shoe?"

"We're not wearing shoes!"

"Yes we are!"

"Kids, if you don't stop fighting right now, then you're all grounded, got that?" Bowser said, gritting his teeth and massaging his temples. Jenna took this as her cue to go, so she left him with his family, although she did notice that the children were staring at her as she left with GLaDOS.

"Where is their mother?" She whispered as soon as they were as far away from Pac-Man as they could be. Why she was whispering remained a mystery to her. GLaDOS ignored her as she made a "beep" and began to process information and load a new document.

"I've just received a new message. It's from Sonic," she muttered. "They want…" She made a noise that sounded like a gasp, but Jenna couldn't quite tell what it was. "Follow me," GLaDOS ordered. "There is something that you have to see. And I suggest that you look carefully, because you will never see it again." Jenna's curiosity had been stirred, and she followed GLaDOS to the computer section…

* * *

It took them a few hours, but the Lickety-Split had been completed, and the girls decided that this called for a celebration. As a treat, they all went to one of Vanellope's favorite places to hang out: the Candy Cane Forest, complete with Nesquik Sand and Laffy Taffy vines. "Are these trees really made of candy?" Lulu wondered, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to lick the trunk of one of the plants and find out. But this wasn't exactly Willy Wonka's factory…

"You're more than welcome to try a piece," Black smiled. "But can you answer a question first?"

"I'll do my best!" Lulu laughed. "But I make no promises."

"Um…you, Alicia, and Jenna were the only new characters to be added to our game, right?" Black asked. She looked eighty percent sure of what the answer would be, but there was a twenty percent that wanted to confirm her information. Lulu nodded. "Well then, who the fudge is THAT?" Black demanded, pointing at someone above them. Lulu turned and gasped…

* * *

_The next chapter will be featuring two games so…unique and twisted that I don't even know what to say about them. Brace yourselves._

_It also will be featuring more of Ralph._

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_(DAMN, this chapter feels long…I really wasn't kidding!)_

_Review, please! :)_


	7. Chapter 7

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—Your wish is my command! Enjoy this chapter…I hope it answers some of your questions. And thanks for reviewing!**

**Raccon Girl—Because I am evil! *insert evil laughter here* Anyway, the cliffhanger is over. I hope you're happy. ;)**

**Jenna—Oh, don't worry. We're all exhausted around now. *rolls eyes* And I can't wait to see your new story! When is it going to be uploaded? I want to read it ASAP! Anyway, thanks for reviewing! You rock!**

**Alicia—Are you kidding? Ralph says it in the movie! What's the first rule of Hero's Duty? By the way, I've missed texting with you. Is everything okay?**

Chapter Seven

Wreck-It Ralph was attempting to climb one of the tallest trees in the whole forest. Black and Vanellope blinked, smiled at each other, and raced over to the same tree, which they proceeded to climb. They were so small and nimble that they managed to make even more progress than Ralph in less time. "Hi, mister!" Vanellope called out once she was lying on a branch way above the grown man. "Hello!"

"What's your name?" Black wondered, swinging her legs over a branch.

"Kids, get down before you hurt yourself!" Lulu begged, wincing at how old she sounded, like somebody's mother. Wait…wasn't she technically their mother now? The kids ignored her as they continued to talk with Ralph.

"You're not from here, are you?" Vanellope asked, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. "Are you a hobo?" She was hanging upside down from a branch now, using her legs to support herself.

"Please get down from there, Vanellope!" Lulu shouted. "I don't want for you to break anything!"

"Relax, Smarties," Black yawned, copying Vanellope's position. "What do you think we do when we're not racing? We climb trees! And we haven't gotten hurt once!" Vanellope was now in the middle of taunting Ralph about his bad breath and voice.

"Listen, I've tried to be nice…"

"_I've tried to be nice..._"

"This conversation is over!"

"_This conversation is blah-blah_. And, uh, I wouldn't hold on to that if I were you." Ralph was holding onto a branch with double stripes. He rolled his eyes and said something about being a part of the candy cane tree department.

"The Double Striped branches vanish," Black said in a matter-of-fact way, examining her cuticles instead of the giant that had almost tumbled out of the tree.

"GUH-DOI," Vanellope added for extra measure, giggling. "Why are your hands so freakishly big?"

"I don't know," Ralph said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why are you so freakishly annoying?"

"SWEET MOTHER OF MONKEY MILK, A GOLD COIN!" Vanellope gasped, noticing the reason for Ralph's tree-climbing activity. He had a gold medal on the highest branch.

"Guys, let's be nice to Mr. Hobo," Lulu suggested, and the other two giggled. "His hands are big because it's part of his job to wreck things. And he's from one of the other arcade games."

"I remember!" Black exclaimed, her red eyes widening. "I think I've seen him around! He's from Fix-It Felix!" She suddenly glared at Ralph. "Who owns that medal, anyway? It's one of Felix's, isn't it?"

"No, it's mine!" Ralph insisted. Thanks to the antics of Vanellope, he was clutching a branch, hovering inches away from the ground. "But I'll tell you the truth right now. I'm not really from the Candy Cane Tree Department."

"Lying to a child," Vanellope scolded, shaking her head. "Shame on you, Ralph."

"And we already knew that without your help, Genius," Black reminded Ralph, who rolled his eyes.

"But I am telling the truth about that medal! It's my ticket to a better life!"

"Well, it's my medal now, okay?" Vanellope broke into another glitching attack, but it ended just as quickly as it had begun. Ralph, however, had noticed what had happened. Vanellope shouted at him, "See ya, chump," before leaving the forest with Black and Lulu behind her.

"You are going to give that back to him, right?" Lulu asked. Okay, that wasn't exactly a question. As the new "guardian" of these girls, she wanted to make sure that they did the right thing. She did NOT want for them to end up like Taffyta and the members of her gang.

"Oh, I will," Vanellope smirked. "After I win it back, I mean."

"No, I don't," Lulu corrected. "What do you mean?" Vanellope spat on the medal and polished it as she explained her intentions.

"This is what I'm going to use to enter the race."

* * *

"Oh, hello, GLaDOS, welcome back!" The robot Wheatley greeted when the antagonist of Portal entered her domain. "How did the meeting go? Alicia here has been telling me all about it." His words were kind, but his tone was cold and resentful. But GLaDOS was patient.

"Wheatley, we've been over this before. You are not the antagonist of any Portal game. You are the comic relief and the love interest."

"But I could be the bad guy!" He insisted. "I mean, I was a much bigger threat than you were as a stuffed potato!"

"I will shove you into a potato if you don't quiet down," GLaDOS growled. "Make yourself useful, Metal Ball. Find the footage of these games: MARIO and Sonic dot exe. And MARIO is spelled with all capital letters."

Wheatley gasped. "Why in the world would they want to see those _things_?" He demanded, shaking like a leaf. "And I know which MARIO game you're talking about! There, press the play button! You should be able to see them." Alicia spotted Jenna sitting in a chair in front of a large screen, and she went and joined her friend.

"They have the right to know," GLaDOS said, as casual as a stranger talking about the weather, answering his first question. She pressed a button, and an image flickered onto the screen. It was the main screen for a Mario game, but everything was different. The name of the game was simply: MARIO. And the protagonist appeared, but he had been changed. His color scheme was darker and his smile was missing. But the familiar jingle of the start button being pressed sounded, and a message popped up on the screen:

"Welcome! This is Dinosaur Land. In this strange land we find that Princess Toadstool is missing! Looks like MARIO is at it again!" This puzzled Alicia and Jenna, but they kept watching, curious to see what was going to happen. MARIO passed Yoshi's house and entered an act called Never Come Back. Inside this stage, all of the items had been taken and the Dinosaur Coins could not be taken, no matter how close you came to getting one. MARIO hit a message box, and received this "hint" from the game:

"Point of Advice: I hate you."

Eventually, MARIO came across the place where Yoshi could be rescued and used in the game. A message showed up on the screen:

"Hooray! Thank you for rescuing me! My name is Yoshi, and on my way to rescue my friends, MARIO trapped me in that egg."

Not too far from this point, another message was found:

"…but…is there anything I can do to change your mind?" After losing Yoshi to one of the bad guys in this level, another message box containing points of advice appeared.

"Point of Advice: This is the selfish way out."

"What the hell are they talking about? Jenna exploded. "We're just playing a freaking game! How is that selfish? What did Mario ever do to them?" When she looked back at the screen, MARIO was entering Iggy's lair, which opened with a line of message boxes. All of them read the same thing:

"Don't you think you've caused enough trouble? –Yoshi"

After a lot of walking, MARIO reached the end of this stage, and was now about to defeat Iggy, the first of Bowser's many children. This boss was the easiest to take out, and following the victory, a small video clip played of MARIO retrieving a Yoshi egg from the castle before blowing it up. At the bottom of the screen, these words began to appear:

"Victim #1: Eyeballs were unable to be found. The victim was found lying on her carpet. Causes of death unknown, hand marks with unidentifiable fingerprints were found all over the corpse." Following this statement, a picture of a face popped up. The eyes were missing, and what was left of the skin was a deep orange.

Alicia and Jenna gulped, resisting the urge to vomit. Wheatley had turned away from the screen, unable to watch anymore, but he did mutter, "Victim Number One, obviously. How many others were there?" GLaDOS was calm and silent when she pressed another button, and the screen changed, switching to the starting menu for a Sonic game.

Cheerful music played, and Sonic was shown wagging his finger and winking at the camera. For a moment, the two girls relaxed, thinking that maybe this would be a little less disturbing than what they had just witnessed. But then, for a split second, Sonic's face changed so that he appeared to be crying blood. And the girls knew that they were wrong.

The list of characters to play from was now shown: Tails, Knuckles, or Doctor Eggman. Knuckles and Eggman were locked, so only Tails could be played. But he looked terrified of what was to happen. In spite of this, he was selected, and the name of the first stage was shown as eerie music played in the background.

He was in Hill: Act 1. And he kept moving forward as the music played, and again, the girls let their guard down a little. The only thing that seemed to be unusual was the lack of enemies…at first. And the only woodland creatures that could be seen were bloody corpses and piles of bones.

But then the audio stopped, and Sonic was standing in front of Tails. As Tails walked closer and closer to the blue hedgehog, static came over the audio, and it grew louder and louder with every step that was taken. When Tails took his final step, Sonic opened his eyes and revealed that they were dark crimson. The screen faded to black, and a question was asked of the audience.

"Hello. Do you want to play with me?"

"No, I don't want to play with you!" Wheatley shouted. But the game footage said otherwise, as Tails was taken to a new stage. This one was called Hide and Seek. The ground was flat, and in the background, a fire burned. Tails was staring at the camera, terrified of what was going to happen. But then he took off running in one direction. After only a few seconds, Corrupted Sonic flashed across the screen in various places, but then stood where the stage "began" on the left of the screen. Intense music played as he gained upon Tails, who was struggling to run away. But when the hand of Corrupted Sonic grazed the tail of the fox, Tails looked at the audience and began to cry.

He paused when Corrupted Sonic appeared to his right, posed to strike and kill him. For a minute, the two of them didn't move. But then Corrupted Sonic lunged, the screen cut to black, and the bloodcurdling scream of a woman was heard.

"You're too slow. Want to try again?"

The character select menu was back, but Tails was no longer accessible, leaving Knuckles as the only option. The stage that he was placed in was dark and depressing, and the ground had tubes of red liquid on it. Grim music was playing, and Knuckles ran for a whole minute before the first sign of trouble was shown. Red static distorted the screen, and Alicia began to sweat, fearing for her favorite Sonic character. When the picture returned to normal, the tubes of blood had opened, covering the stage with blood…and Corrupted Sonic was standing in front of Knuckles, posed in the same way he had been before he killed Tails.

"Found you."

Corrupted Sonic became a blur on the screen, but he remained in one place. Knuckles tried to run at him, but whenever this happened, the evil hedgehog would simply teleport to another area. When it was all over, Knuckles was sitting on the ground, sobbing as Corrupted Sonic stood behind him, smiling. When he lunged at his next victim, the screen cut to blackness and the same female scream from before was heard.

"So many souls to play with, so little time. Wouldn't you agree?"

Doctor Eggman was the only character left, and he was placed in a stage with no name. He walked down flights of stairs until he encountered the hedgehog he claimed to hate. And then the screen turned to snow. When it ended, static was still heard on the audio, but what could be seen was Corrupted Sonic grinning from ear to ear, blood dripping from his eyes. On the wall behind him, these words were written in red:

"I AM GOD."

Red snow broke this photo apart, and then this question was asked: "Ready for Round Two?" When it cut to another scene, Alicia and Jenna really did vomit. Corrupted Sonic was racing around in a merry fashion, his red eyes glinting. Behind him were the decapitated and strangled bodies of his victims. The audio was nothing…just the twisted laughs and screams of men and women. And the image changed one last time, to Corrupted Sonic glaring at the audience as they read the writing on the screen. It was in Japanese, but Wheatley translated it for them. He didn't even look at the screen to remember what it said. "And my diseased soul screams. Will you be the walker of my shadows? Delight me with sinister sin. Our funeral of euphoria will break Satan's black heart."

Alicia was crying, burying her face in her hands as she screamed in anguish. Jenna was white in the face, unable to move an inch. "You were wondering, perhaps, about my reasons for being defensive of the world we live in. Now you know. I hope you're happy," GLaDOS added, her voice full of bitterness.

This was the last thing that the girls heard before they fainted.

* * *

_ Sonic dot exe and MARIO are real games, but I left a lot of details out of the MARIO game, such as a fire flower that couldn't be reached, the pointless stage named Yoshi's Island, MARIO being able to run across air, a message consisting of nonsense, a message in binary, and the stages that followed Iggy's castle. Footage of both games can be located on YouTube. (If you want to view Sonic dot exe, then search for Version Four. Yes, there are FOUR versions of this game. The fourth version will be used in my story.)_

_Both of these games will be playing prominent roles in this story. I promise you, though, that things will be toned down._

_Review, please._


	8. Chapter 8

**The worst is over, my friends. Things will be calm…for a while, anyway. ;)**

**Alicia—It was pretty bad when Knuckles died. He was actually worse in the first version of the game…he had a creepy expression on his face before Sonic killed him.**

**Raccon Girl—It's okay now. Things are going to be much better.**

**supersaiyan3goku—I know that it was a little intense, and I didn't have a whole lot of fun writing it, but you're right: things are going to get really interesting now! ;)**

Chapter Eight

The crowd of onlookers for the random roster race was enormous. Black and Lulu were greeted with enthusiastic cheers as they joined the others. Vanellope had told them to act natural and that they would see what she was planning in no time at all. "Citizens of Sugar Rush…" Sour Bill began, and Lulu and Black turned their attention to the stands. Beneath the king's box was Vanellope.

"Just in time," Vanellope mouthed at them, donning the rest of her disguise and vanishing from their sight.

"All hail our rightful ruler…King Candy," Bill concluded, making way for the ruler to join him. And the jolly guy was at his side within moments, beaming and waving like a child on Christmas.

"HELLO, my royal subjects!" The king shouted, waving at the crowds of shouting candy people. "Have some candy!" He yelled, throwing tinier pieces of sugar wrapped in cellophane in random directions. Lulu wondered if feeding candy to candy was a form of cannibalism, but she did not want to ask. "Thank you for that stirring introduction, Sour Bill! And thank you, today's avatars! It was a long day of racing, but the arcade is closed, and the slate must be wiped! The first nine racers to cross the finish line tonight will be the avatars for tomorrow's race! The fee to play is one gold coin from your previous winnings, if you have won…which I have!" The king giggled. He was the first to register for the race.

"King Candy!" The amiable voice of a different announcer, perhaps one that was programmed into the game, announced, and the crowd cheered. "Taffyta Muttonfudge!" The voice added, when the blond racer stepped forth and registered.

"Stay sweet!" Taffyta shouted to her fans, leaping into the air and striking an adorable pose. Lulu gagged at how fake she was, but the crowd went wild.

"Adorabeezle Winterpop!" Vanellope was pushing the Lickety-Split into the line next to the other racers' karts. "Gloyd Orangeboar!" Now she was at the back of the line of racers with Lulu and Black. "I told you it would be a piece of cake," she told them, her tone smug. They couldn't read her expression—she had hidden it beneath her hood and goofy-looking racer goggles. Lulu gave Black a high-five before sacrificing her gold coin to the roster. "Lulu Smarties-Pants!" The announcer declared.

"Smart choice," Lulu commented, smirking, striking a pose of her own when she leapt into the air.

"Hey, that's a good one!" Black said, impressed. "That should be your new catch phrase!" She moved out of the way, allowing Vanellope the chance to part with her ticket to the race. The ebony-haired girl kissed the medal once for luck before tossing it in with the others. The three girls held their breath, waiting and praying that it would work…

"Sour Bill," the girls heard the king say into the podium. "Who's that last one? Another new character, perhaps?"

"I don't know, Your Majesty. It's—"

"Vanellope von Schweetz!" The announcer corrected.

"I did it!" Vanellope cheered, glitching right out of her disguise. "Woohoo! I'm in the race! I did it!"

The crowd of candy broke out in hysterics, screaming as they panicked. King Candy was doing his best to calm them down. "Everybody, there's no reason to panic. SECURITY, arrest that thing!"

Right on cue, the donut-themed security guards walked into the stadium, approaching Vanellope in a threatening manner. "Come here, kid," they urged. "We're not going to hurt you, you little freak." She gulped and dashed towards her kart as the line of racers stood and glared at her. Black and Lulu were glaring, too, but not at Vanellope. They were staring at the two donuts.

"She's not a freak!" Black said, her voice shrill as she hopped into her kart and pursued the guards. "Stay away from her!" Lulu jumped into the Galaxy Glazer and joined Black as they chased down the guards. They both knew that they were going to get in trouble, but they didn't care. "Run, Van!" Black shouted, swerving her car to attempt to block the path and trap the guards.

"Oh, sugar honey ice tea!" Lulu shouted when the steering wheel to her kart slid from her hand. She screamed when her kart hit a delicious-looking tree, and then everything went dark.

* * *

The good news: The two candy citizens that came to help her were as sweet as they looked to be.

The bad news: Hey! They arrested her, Black, and Ralph! And where had Vanellope gone? Why was she being taken to the palace? Had all of their hard work been for nothing?

* * *

When Jenna and Alicia opened their eyes, they saw the faces of Mario, Sonic, GLaDOS, and Wheatley staring down at them. "Are you guys okay?" Sonic asked, offering Jenna a hand. She whimpered and pulled it away. He sighed. "That's what happens to those who watch the video. I'm really sorry that you had to watch it. We tried to warn you."

"You could have done a better job," Alicia spat, sitting crisscross on the floor, glaring at them all. Yet Knuckles was in her mind, sobbing…pleading for mercy…for help.

"Seriously, love, are you sure you're okay?" Wheatley repeated, taking a closer look at the racing characters. "We thought that you were dead. And then we'd have a serious problem, cause then you'd be really dead. Game over."

"But they will be!" Jenna shouted, getting to her feet. "We need to go to Sonic dot exe and MARIO and get those other characters out of there before something bad happens!"

"And there's still time!" Alicia added as Jenna pulled her to her feet. "The arcade doesn't open for a few more hours! That's all we need!"

"We can't," Mario said, trying to soothe the girls and failing miserably.

Jenna stared at him, shocked. "What do you mean?" She demanded. "How hard can it be? And what's the worst that can happen—the games getting uninstalled? How is that a bad thing?"

"The characters will be left without a home!" Mario told her, his mustache bristling. "We won't be able to help them. Do you really want for that to happen?"

"No," Alicia admitted. "But I don't want for them to spend the rest of their days dying over and over and over again!"

"There's nothing we can do to change that," GLaDOS declared. She and the others left the two girls alone to gather their thoughts, never once suspecting that they would do something crazy.

But they were fan girls. Being a little crazy was part of the job. And Jenna remembered this when she looked at Alicia and said, opposing GLaDOS, "Oh, yes we can. She'll see..."

* * *

_Sorry if this chapter was a little short. Something REALLY HUGE came up in real life, and that's going to be taking some time away from fan fiction for a little while. Don't worry: the daily updates will continue, and I have already started Sunday's chapter._

_Review, please! :)_


	9. Chapter 9

**Dalek—I should have told you to view those pictures at your own risk. In answer to your question, the Tails Doll will not be making an appearance in this story. I don't find it as creepy as it should be, I'm sorry. :( But I am glad that you are enjoying the story so far, and I hope you keep reading and reviewing!**

**Raccon Girl—Don't worry…we shall prevail! *insert triumphant music* Thanks for reviewing!**

**Alicia—Read the end of the chapter to see…also, thanks for reviewing! And you shall begin your noble quest soon, I promise! ;)**

**supersaiyon3goku—I know, right? I think that they learned their lesson at the end of the movie, though. I won't say anything else in case Jenna is reading this. (She still needs to see the movie.) Thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Nine

Somehow, Ralph had managed to get himself stuck in a cupcake and covered with green goo. He didn't look anything like he should have. He resembled a rejected monster design from one of the older games. The guards had to roll him into the palace throne room. Lulu and Black had the luxury of walking from the quote-unquote "scene of the crime" to the castle, noticing the Oreo guards doing their best imitation of the monkey guards from the Wizard of Oz. And as soon as they entered the palace, they had to walk past a wall of portraits before entering the room where they would have an audience with King Candy.

And one of these portraits was of the infamous Turbo. He was clutching a trophy in one hand and waving at the fans that weren't there with his free arm. Lulu managed to get a good look at him before she had to move away and she liked what she saw. For a guy consumed by jealousy, he wasn't half bad-looking. His eyes were big and yellow, making him look like a ghost with his grayish skin. But he did have certain traits about him that made him look unique. He had a tiny nose, a happy-go-lucky grin, and…gosh, did his teeth have to be that perfect? They matched his white track suit.

Lulu was sad when they moved into the next room. The throne room was pink and girlish, unfitting for a king outside of the game. But King Candy seemed to like it even more than he should have. He certainly liked it more than Black did, who winced and shielded her eyes from the eyesore. "Sour Bill, let's see what we're dealing with!" The king ordered, removing his racing gear. The little sourball mumbled a reply before removing the gooey mask from Ralph's face, revealing his true identity. "Well, milk my duds! It's Wreck-It Ralph!" The king gasped.

"Yeah, that's me," Ralph snorted, his voice gruff. "And who are you supposed to be—the guy that makes the donuts? I see you're a fan of pink."

"Salmon, it's obviously salmon—what are you doing here?"

"Look, Your Candiness, this is just some big misunderstanding. So get me out of this cupcake, I'll get my medal, and then I'll be out of your way."

"Your medal…? Ha, ha! Bad guys don't win medals!" King Candy chuckled.

"I did win this one, I promise!" Ralph all but shouted at the monarch. "I got it over in Hero's Duty, and I was trying to get back there, when—"

"You game-jumped? Ralph, you're not going Turbo, are you?" The king panicked. "Because if you are, and you're thinking about taking over MY game, then you have another thing coming!" Black and Lulu exchanged a look. For a moment, Lulu was afraid that he'd have some of his guards retrieve that large Turbo painting and bring it before his prisoners and torture them with a lecture on the history of the evil racer. She was relieved when Ralph saved them all from this awful punishment.

"Easy, Your Puffiness," he yelped. "I'm not going to take over the game! It's not my fault that one of your Children of the Candy Corn stole my medal!"

"The Children of the Candy Corn? But who would—? The glitch—the coin she used to enter the race was your MEDAL!" The king realized, and Lulu could see the gears in his mind putting two and two together. "And you girls, you helped her, didn't you?" He demanded, his voice becoming shrill.

"Wow," Black said, her voice flat and dull, "you figured that out all by yourself? I thought that you needed Sour Bill to tie your shoes for you and everything." But her jab fell on deaf ears.

"She did what? No, no, I need that back!" Ralph complained, becoming just as hysterical as the king was. He tilted his head to address Lulu and Black. "How could you let her do that?"

"It was sort of a spur-of-the-moment thing, to be honest," Lulu admitted, playing with a strand of hair. "But hey, it was for a good cause! And that's all that matters in the end, because everybody wins!" She forced herself to smile, but the king and Ralph were bemused.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't help you there," King Candy told Ralph, sounding unapologetic. "It's gone now! It's nothing but code now, and it's going to stay that way until one of the racers wins a trophy and a spot on the roster tomorrow!"

"Maybe I'll just have to have a talk with one of the winners, then," Ralph decided, and the king's eyes widened.

"Is that a threat I smell? Or is that just your breath?" King Candy asked, gagging when he came too close to Ralph.

"He is technically the bad guy," Lulu chimed in.

"Listen Nelly Wafer, I'm not leaving without my medal!" Ralph proclaimed, giving the king a cold stare.

"Yes, you are! Get him out of that cupcake and on the next train back home! And if I ever see you here again, Wreck-It Ralph, then I'll lock you in my fungeon!"

"The what?" Ralph asked, confused.

"My fungeon…my fun-dungeon…it's a play on words," the king tried to explain, but Ralph just stared at him. "Oh, never mind! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a glitch to deal with, no thanks to you! Goodbye, Wreck-It Ralph! It hasn't been a pleasure! And as for you two girls…" The king glared at the racers once more before he slid his racing goggles on. "I'll let you go this once. Lulu Smarties-Pants, you're new, so you have a lot to learn about this place. But Black Licoricetwist…this was your last chance." His voice became menacing. "One more time, and it's the fungeon for you, young lady."

"Oh, I'm so scared," Black mocked. "See ya, Puffy Pants," she curtsied to him before turning on her heel and marching out of the hallway. Lulu opened her mouth to say something to the king, but she decided that he had proven himself to be the type that was merciless and uncompromising, so she just curtsied too before following her "daughter". The last time she saw Ralph with the donut guards, they were trying to find a way to remove his from his sticky prison.

"We could have been out of there sooner if you hadn't been driving him crazy!" Lulu scolded as soon as they were outside. Black chuckled. "It's not funny!" Lulu said, continuing to chastise her. But Black kept laughing, and after a while Lulu had to crack a small smile. "Okay, it was a little funny, but that's beside the point. We have to find Vanellope now."

"Take a chill pill," Black said. "I know where she is! Let's go!" The king had been kind enough to not take away their racing karts, so the Swift Twist and Galaxy Glazer were parked by the main entrance to the enormous palace. Lulu's vehicle had been repaired. She couldn't even tell that it had been wrecked in an accident. As she and Black raced towards the location of Vanellope—the destination unknown to Lulu at the time—she could not help but wonder why the king had repaired her kart despite him having an open hatred for two of her new friends…

* * *

Jenna and Alicia had sworn to their new "bosses" that they would stay away from the creepy computer files that they had watched play out on the screen. But as soon as they were left alone, Jenna revealed that her fingers had been crossed the whole time to Alicia. She was grinning from ear to ear, a sneaky glint shining in her eye. "I know that look," Alicia said. "What are you planning? And is it something that we're going to end up regretting later?"

"Not if we play this game right," Jenna replied. "And if the footage is correct, then it should be easy to do." She took a deep breath. "The only thing we have to do is not get ourselves killed. And if we manage to rescue Knuckles, then there's a bigger chance that he'll end up falling in love with you," she added with a not-so-subtle wink. As they left, Jenna could have sworn that she heard somebody sneeze, but when she brought it up with Alicia, they dismissed it as being something from their wild imaginations…

But had she imagined the whispers of children as she walked out, or were those just the robot minions of GLaDOS, ready to report on their every move? They quickened their pace, hoping that getting in and getting out would be as easy as pie.

* * *

_Some of you (Alicia) expressed concern about me because of the "super huge thing" that's been happening. In answer to that question, everything is wonderful! I am going to be writing a play with a local playwright and working with actors and other writers on it over the summer! So everything is totally fine!_

_This was probably another short chapter, but the one tomorrow is going to be nice and extra long, just the way everyone likes it! ;)_

_Review, please! :)_


	10. Chapter 10

**Jenna—I'm glad that you managed to catch up, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter! And yes, I can't wait for the Dimimi story, but take your time with the other two stories. You can't rush art, after all. ;)**

**Alicia—Yes! But beware…for soon crazy crap shall appear! (Hey, that almost rhymes!) Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

**Raccon Girl—I wish that she could have done more to help during this scene, but this scene had to be kept unchanged for the most part. The movie wouldn't have been the same without it. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

**supersaiyon3goku—I answered your question in the PM I sent you last night, but I can't answer it here…well, I guess I can. My answer is: no, there is not a portrait of Turbo anywhere in Sugar Rush. Anyway, thanks for reviewing! You rock!**

Chapter Ten

"How did things go with King Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?" Vanellope cracked when Black and Lulu reunited with her on the dirt road of the junkyard. This place didn't look anything like a junkyard, and there was enough room to make it the perfect place to practice driving. Vanellope had parked her kart in the center of it all and was checking to make sure if there were any last minute modifications she had to make before her big race.

"The usual," Black shrugged. "I didn't stick around for too long."

"So why did it seem like you guys were being some slow pokes?" Vanellope wondered, sounding concerned.

"He questioned us and Ralph until my ears bled," Lulu explained, rolling her eyes. She was no longer beginning to find King Candy's voice adorable or whimsical. "We left after he remembered that I am a new character in his game. He gave me the royal welcome and everything," she added sarcastically. The other two girls laughed, but hushed when the rumble of car engines zooming over a hill grew louder and louder. Within the blink of an eye, the Sugar Rush racers were there, parked in a neat circle around the trio of outcasts. Vanellope was the only one who looked happy to see them.

"Hello, fellow racers!" She shouted. "Taffyta, Candlehead, Rancis, you're looking well!" The three said racers stepped out of their vehicles and glared at the hyperactive girl. Black frowned.

"Something tells me that they're not here to talk," she noted. "And that's good." A lukewarm smile crept onto her facial features. "Talking with them bores me." Vanellope did not seem to hear her.

"They're just here to check out the competition!" She cried. "Here it is: the Lickety-Split! Built it myself, with help from Black and the three new girls," she added. "Fastest pedal power west of the Whack-a-Mole, check her out!" She jumped inside of her kart and began to pedal, honking the horn and beaming, proud of the hard work.

"Oh, Vanellope, it's so…you," Taffyta commented, earning giggles and smirks from her nine friends. "But you have to back out of the race." She licked her lollipop. "Yeah…"

"Oh, no, I don't, you know, cause I paid my fee and I'm on the board, so yeah, I'm definitely racing," Vanellope shot back, stepping out of her kart and placing her hands in the pockets of her hoodie.

"Yeah, well, King Candy says glitches can't race," Taffyta droned, flicking her lollipop away and folding her arms.

"I'm not a glitch, Taffyta. I've just got pixlexia, okay?" Vanellope said, her words getting muffled by a glitchy wave that came over her.

Taffyta smiled and approached her. "The rules are there for a reason, Vanellope: to protect us. And since talking is boring, allow me to demonstrate," she said, making a mocking bow towards Black. "Say I'm you," the platinum blond racer continued, hopping into the Lickety-Split. She placed her small hands on the wheel and pretended to drive. "I'm in my weird little car, driving along, actually feeling kind of cool for once, when suddenly…oh, no," Taffyta froze. She began to shake, like she was pretending to have a seizure. "I'm g-g-g-g-glitching!" With one final tremor, she tore the steering wheel off of the car.

Vanellope's pixels turned blue as she cried out in alarm, and Lulu gasped. "You break it, you buy it, you little crumb!" She shouted. Taffyta ignored her and stepped out from the kart.

"See?" She said to Vanellope. "You're an accident waiting to happen!" She threw the broken wheel at Vanellope, who glitched so badly that she moved a few inches backwards.

"Oh, no, I g-g-glitch, too!" Jubileena exclaimed, stumbling towards the kart and swinging her arms into the hood, tearing it right off. The other racers took this as a sign to join in, and they all stepped forward and began to kick, pull, and stomp on various parts of the kart. Black shouted her protests and tried to pull the racers away, but whenever this happened, they would grab onto the side of the car and hold on tightly, refusing to let go.

"Please," Vanellope begged, pulling Taffyta away. "I just want to race like you guys!"

That did it. Taffyta stepped way too close to Vanellope, insulting her while looking her straight in the eye. "You will never be a racer! You're a glitch, and that's all you'll ever be!" She topped this off by knocking the raven-haired girl into a chocolate mud puddle.

"Hey, you leave her alone!" A familiar male voice shouted, and the racers gasped. Ralph charged down the hill at him, yelling and glaring, looking as threatening as his character had been programmed to be. And he did do his job correctly here.

Minty screamed, and the rest of the racers scattered in different directions. "Let's get out of here!" Taffyta yelled, running for her Pink Lightning. As Ralph started to pursue them, Black and Lulu helped Vanellope get out of the mud.

"Hopefully he'll get to wreck their karts," Lulu said, crossing her fingers for luck. Vanellope sniffled and nodded, a weak smile gracing the corners of her cheeks.

"What a moron," Vanellope scoffed. "Hey genius, that's a jawbreaker! You're never gonna break it…!" With a final pound, Ralph split the sphere into two perfect halves. Vanellope was so impressed that she glitched. "Huh…" She walked over to another jawbreaker and rested her arms upon it as she smiled at the pouting destroyer. Black and Lulu joined her, but they were keeping a safe distance. They wondered if Ralph was strong enough to crush a skull with his bare hands. But they didn't want to know the answer to this particular question. "Did you enjoy your little tantrum, Diaper Baby?" Vanellope asked, as sweet as could be.

"Leave me alone," Ralph panted. Black's eyes widened and she snapped her fingers. She called Vanellope over for a group huddle, and she shared what she had on her mind.

"We didn't tell you about this earlier because we wouldn't have been able to get inside," Black said to Lulu. "But there's a Kart Factory where the racers can go to get karts if something bad happens to their usual mode of transportation. And since one of the registered racers has gotten her car vandalized, no thanks to Muttonbutt and her gang, we should be able to get inside. And he is going to help us!" She added, shifting her eyes over towards the moping Ralph.

"You sure he'll want to do it?" Lulu whispered. "I mean, we did take his medal!"

"I'm going to give it back to him!" Vanellope reminded her, breaking apart from the huddle and walking over to the bad guy. "Look, you want that medal, right? And I want to race! So here's what we were thinking: you help me get a new kart—a real kart—and then one of us will win the race and get you your medal back!"

"You want ME to help YOU?"

"C'mon, what do you say, friend?" Vanellope held out her arm. "Aw, come on, pal! You son of a gun! Come on, let's shake on it! Come on, Ralph, my man…my main man? Hey, my arm is getting tired! Do we have a deal or not?"

He groaned, giving up. "One of you three had better win!" Ralph warned before shaking Vanellope's tiny hand.

* * *

The other two girls had separated a short while ago, but it seemed like an eternity to Alicia, who was taking deep, slow breaths to prepare herself for what was to come. When she entered Sonic dot exe, she skipped over the character selection screen and was placed in the first stage. "I'm playing as Tails," she realized, speaking aloud to try to calm her nerves. "Okay, I can do this. It's just a game, and it can't hurt me." She walked forward, trying to hum a normal Sonic theme song instead of listen to the creepy melody playing in the background. But when she passed the bloody remains of the forest creatures, the pace of the song increased, ending when she saw Sonic waiting for her. She didn't even have to step forward for him to ask her the usual question.

"Hello. Do you want to play with me?"

"No," she answered, shaking her head. "I want to play with Knuckles," she told him, trying to be bold and fearless, hoping that this would catch his attention and make him listen to her. "Can you take me to him?"

"Time to play my favorite game."

He wasn't listening to her, and Alicia gasped when he opened his eyes to reveal the crimson centers. "Is there a God in your game? You're in Hell now." Corrupted Sonic asked before he lunged at her, and she screamed at the top of her lungs, praying that the end would be swift, that Jenna would be okay, and that Knuckles would forgive her…

* * *

Nobody was waiting for Jenna when she entered the world of MARIO, and Jenna decided to go to the first stage and proceed as she would in a normal Mario game. She could not reach any of the Dinosaur Coins, like the footage showed, and the enemies were so easy to defeat that they would start to run away from her when she came close. But the footage hadn't shown anything about Bowser. But was that his Clown Head flying over her? And the nine faces inside—

"Jenna, get inside!" Larry Koopa shouted, lowering a rope ladder for her to climb up. She blinked in surprise. If MARIO hadn't known about her entrance into his domain, then the commotion caused by this would surely catch his attention and bring him here at the speed of light.

"How did you know that I was going to be here? Have you been stalking me?" She shouted up, wondering if one the kids had been inside of the Portal game and sneezed. Were they spying on her? "What are you all doing here?"

"I'm not supposed to be here, so if you want to survive this game, you have to get out of here NOW!" Bowser called down, and Jenna's heart fluttered. He did care about her, after all that she had done at the meeting…okay, looking back, it hadn't been that bad, but still, he did care!

"No, it's too late. He's coming!" Bowser Junior moaned, as the 8-bit jumping effect noise grew closer and closer. "Climb up!" He begged Jenna, and she obeyed and began to climb up. And for a brief moment, she believed that she was going to make it and that everything would be okay. But that was before she felt a hand incased in fabric grab onto her ankle, and before it started to pull her down…

* * *

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl. (Did I forget to mention that in the last few chapters? Ugh, I'm sorry.)_

_Review, please! :)_


	11. Chapter 11

**Jenna—I love the Koopalings to death, but they have been driving me CRAZY. I keep doing my research on who is the oldest, who is the youngest, and all of that, but I keep getting confused. And…yeah…about that hand…you'll have to keep reading!**

**Raccon Girl—I'm glad you're enjoying this!**

**Alicia—Don't worry! Someone will save you…or not. LOL! Thanks for reviewing!**

**EpicDJKitty—Hey, you can't rush these things, you know! But in answer to your question, Bowser and Jenna have officially met each other, so they're on the way to falling in love. Alicia already has her crush on Knuckles, and she's off to rescue him. And then there's me…and I haven't met Turbo yet. (Don't spoil anything in any reviews because Jenna hasn't seen the movie yet! I'm not just talking to you…I'm talking to YOU, person who may be reading this!)**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-I'm glad you think so. (And on a sidenote, why doesn't the Sonic dot exe name show up in the original form on this site? It's driving me crazy!) And...yeah...those games are certainly interesting. I think that the idea that someone was sick enough to make them is enough to scare me. But yes, I agree with you! I hope you keep reading!**

**Dalek—To be honest, I'm surprised that you're a huge fan of Tails. And I'll be honest with you: I wasn't planning on having Tails survive this story. But after much deliberation…I have decided that he shall live. I really wish that you had an account so that I could tell you more of the details without spoiling too much. But I digress. And hey, I just updated! I update every day! Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

**BloodyNailBunny—Mutahar is awesome, isn't he? I keep hoping that he'll review a Creepypasta I wrote on his show! Anyway, thanks for reviewing.**

**Ashuradehedgehog—I'm glad you noticed that…and the answers to your question shall be revealed in this chapter. ;)**

**Supersaiyan3goku—I'm assuming that's a good thing…? Why rainbow-colored hair?**

Chapter Eleven

Jenna had lost the fight against MARIO, who had pulled her away from the Koopa family, dragged her to the nearest green pipe, forced her down it, and then all but dragged her to a part of the world that she hadn't seen in any of the video footage. MARIO had examined her for a very long time before speaking (in the form of a text box). "Can you understand me?"

"Yeah, I can read and write," Jenna snapped. "What I don't understand is why you are here…in this arcade. Litwak's Family Arcade…you are anything but family-friendly. Who are your victims? Tell me about them, and then I'll be on my merry way." She tried to lighten the situation by making everything better with dark humor, but it was not helping in the slightest.

"I'm a Trojan Horse. The resemblance to your precious plumber is remarkable, isn't it?" Jenna didn't answer. "I was hidden in the depths of this computer, waiting to be rediscovered by someone. Thanks to you crossing the border from my game to the outside world, the anti-virus software is no longer effective against me. As soon as the arcade opens, dozens of Mario fans will flock to the computer screens. That's when I'll pop up and ruin their gaming experiences. They will learn from your mistake. And they shall learn to fear me." He couldn't laugh inside of a text box, but his eyes shone with sick amusement. "And you want to see my victims? I'll show them to you." Jenna shook her head no, and was relieved when she saw a distraction.

A television screen was on the wall behind MARIO, not unlike the one that Jenna had viewed the footage of him and Corrupted Sonic on. It was now flickering with red static. MARIO heard the snowy hisses and walked over to the screen, leaving Jenna to contemplate her escape routes. There weren't very many. So she focused on the television monitor, and bit her lip when Corrupted Sonic showed his sick face.

"I was just about to call you," MARIO revealed with surprise.

"This couldn't wait," Corrupted Sonic interrupted. "But I'm guessing that you want to tell me about your new friend? I'll tell you about mine." With his usual evil grin, he moved away from the screen to reveal that Alicia was standing behind him, bound and gagged, looking scared to death. Her eyes widened when she saw Jenna, and she tried to say something, but Corrupted Sonic spoke over her. (Literally: a text box appeared over the place where she was standing.) "Should we tell Father Fame about this? He's the expert when it comes to Turbo and doing the Turbo."

"I think that's a Turbo-tastic idea," MARIO's text box joked. He pressed a few buttons and waited. A telephone ring was sounding, followed by the click you hear just before someone answers the phone.

"This had better be important. I have other matters on my hands! Three girls are driving me insane, and one of them I need to figure out how to impress before the roster race occurs."

In both games, the girls gasped, recognizing the voice coming from the machine. They weren't paying attention to the conversation, and in that moment, their fates were not important to them. When the captors stopped speaking to each other, the prisoners asked of them a similar question:

"That was King Candy from Sugar Rush, wasn't it?"

And the answer was in the affirmative. Jenna and Alicia, although they were scared for their own lives, began to pray that Lulu would be okay. If Corrupted Sonic and MARIO were taking orders from King Candy, then they were in deep trouble indeed.

Jenna hoped that Bowser and his children weren't too far away, and that they were still looking out for her…even if that meant that the kids would have to do a little bit more stalking.

* * *

Lulu had never felt this free in her whole life. She wished that Jenna and Alicia could be with her to enjoy the relaxing ride with Ralph and the two girl racers, but she knew that they were having fun of their own. But she had spent the whole ride listening to Black and Vanellope make fun of the game where Ralph had won his medal. ("You'd better watch where you step in a game called Hero's Duty!" "Why did the hero flush the toilet? It was his duty!") But they had parked the Galaxy Glazer and Swift Twist outside of a factory not too far away from the candy palace. The group of four had managed to sneak past the guard, who was sleeping on the job. But the entrance to the factory was a heavy door with a spray-painted image of Vanellope on it, reading NO GLITCHES. "What's this? You're a full-on criminal!" Ralph cried after seeing it.

"Hey, we shook on it," Vanellope pouted. "So break the door down." Ralph noticed that Lulu and Black were glaring at him, and he sighed and punched the door down. Vanellope thanked him before dashing inside with the other girls.

Black was explaining their current location and plan to Ralph. "This is a mini-game where you can build your own kart. We would have been in here sooner, but we couldn't figure out how to open the door. Also, I wouldn't have been allowed in unless something really bad happened to the Swift Twist. And we thought about breaking it…but we couldn't bring ourselves to let anything happen to my baby."

"Yeah, but I can't help you here. I'm a wrecker, not a builder," Ralph said firmly.

"Well, it looks like you're going to be stepping outside of your comfort zone for a while, GLaDOS. Oh, this is a good one!" Vanellope had been admiring the different kart styles, and she had made her final selection, entering another room.

"This is where the magic happens!" Black smiled. "I remember getting my first kart here…gosh, that was such a long time ago…"

"Less talking, more cooking!" Vanellope shouted. The first part of building a kart was to choose the best "ingredients" and put the "yummy" ones in one bowl and the "yucky" ones in another. It looked a lot trickier than it sounded, and Ralph stepped in to help. He also did most of the baking stage, and listened to Vanellope's directions during the decorating phase. "Add the wheels!"

"How many do you want?"

"Four wheels, duh," Lulu jabbed, and Ralph blushed a little before adding the tires. "Every kart has four wheels," she muttered as the car continued to be decorated.

"Now add frosting! I want a butt load of frosting!" Vanellope instructed.

"Got it!" Ralph replied with confidence. But in his eagerness to help, he sent the frosting bottles smashing into each other, spilling over the kart, and creating a gloopy mess of rainbow colors. The final product came forward, and it looked…not as fancy as the other racers' cars. "Look, kid," Ralph groaned. "I tried to warn you. I just can't make things."

"I love it," Vanellope whispered.

"What?" Ralph asked, stunned.

"I LOVE IT! Look at this! There's a real engine! And these tires are beautiful!" She was so happy that she covered the wheels with little pecks. "A work of art this great must be signed!" She grabbed some tubes of frosting off of a nearby shelf and began to write her name on the side of her new car. Lulu, Black, and Ralph did the same. "I shall call it…the Candy Kart!" Vanellope announced. "It's simple, but punchy!" She licked some frosting off of her fingers, and noticed that Ralph was grinning. "Hey, I didn't know you had teeth! I've never seen you smile before!" They were so busy rejoicing that they didn't notice King Candy enter the room, accompanied by his donut guards and Oreo soldiers.

"Hold it right there, GLITCH!" The king shouted, pointing his finger at her. Black responded by spraying him with a load of red frosting.

"Your Majesty, are you all right?" One of the donuts asked.

"Oh, I'm fine. It barely glazed me," the king responded. "GET THEM!" He shrieked, returning to his cruel mode.

"Let's get out of here NOW!" Lulu ordered, going into full panic mode. The Galaxy Glazer and Swift Twist were outside, and the guards were blocking the path to the karts. The Candy Kart was their only real way of escaping. She, Black, and Ralph turned to Vanellope, the newest driver, and watched her for a good few seconds before her confession.

"I, uh…don't know how to drive a real kart," Vanellope muttered.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Van, this is no time to be modest!" Black shouted, grabbing her friend and shaking her by the shoulders. "Of course you can drive! Pretend that it's the Swift Twist and we're back home, okay? It's not that different, I promise!" Vanellope nodded and started the car, slammed her foot on the accelerator, and drove through a wall as they made their escape.

"JUMP NOW!" Lulu screamed, throwing herself out of the Candy Kart, aiming for her own kart, hoping that they wouldn't drive past it. Black followed her lead and dashed for the Swift Twist, which she revved up and sent after her friend and the villain. But Lulu was not as quick. Her engine was stalling. "Oh, please, please, please," she begged, slamming a fist on the dashboard. "Aha! Here we go!" She said to herself when the car roared to life and almost flew after the Swift Twist.

"Stop in the name of the king!" King Candy's voice was heard for a brief moment.

"Go suck a popsicle!" She screamed over her shoulder. She laughed, admiring the scenery as she sped along, thinking that it would be smooth sailing for her, Black, and Vanellope from then on. What could go wrong now?

* * *

_Phew, the reviews were overwhelming! I love getting feedback from you guys! Review more often, okay? And I might make this story extra long! ;)_

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	12. Chapter 12

**Jenna—If you think that's bad…he could get worse. *sees you starting to go to the Google search engine, and breaks your computer* NO LOOKING UP MOVIE SPOILERS! This story…is going to be so suspenseful towards the end. And anyway, my favorite Koopaling is probably Wendy or Ludwig or Morton.**

**PrincessLaLaBlue—Here she is…one of my favorite reviewers! *applause* I'm glad you can read and catch up so quickly, and I hope that you love this chapter! (Also, when reviewing, try not to spoil too much of the movie. Jenna hasn't seen it yet!)**

**Ashurathehedgehog—Don't count on BEN showing up, because he doesn't connect to this story at all, nor does he have any relevance with our main characters. With Corrupted Sonic, he is torturing the love of Alicia's life. With MARIO, he has taken Jenna from her potential dream boyfriend. But if you can spot the reference to another gaming Creepypasta here, I'll give you a cookie.**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—I was wondering where you were, but I'm glad that you caught up. And I hope that you keep reading and reviewing!**

**Dalek—I'm sorry that yesterday's chapter was a little late. A lot of stuff came up. I have a job dog-sitting for my neighbor. Anyway, I live in Georgia. And I'm sorry that today's chapter was a little late, too. My grandparents invited me to their house for a little bit of ice cream. How could I refuse that? And wow, you're eleven years old, but you still have recess? Lucky…**

**greatbigsealover44—Oh, there you are! I'm glad you liked that line. Thanks for reviewing!**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist—I loved that line, as terrible as it was, LOL. And yeah, I think that's part of the reason why I love King Candy.**

Chapter Twelve

"Is your friend over there a Trojan Horse, too?" Jenna demanded as soon as MARIO had returned his attention to her. He didn't answer, but Jenna assumed that this meant "yes". "What about King Candy? Is he one?" MARIO stiffened, and Jenna couldn't read what he was saying. "Well, virus or not, someone will come for me," she declared, folding her arms.

MARIO smiled. "The only one who has survived this game is me. Nobody else can navigate to the worlds that lie beyond the first stage. You're stuck here." His shoulders started shaking with silent laughter, and his prisoner got to her feet. She was taller than him, and this gave her a slight advantage…she thought.

"Who are you?" Jenna demanded. "And don't tell me that your name is anything like an Italian plumber I know, because you aren't him. Mario is a good guy that saves people. You're a villain. So you can't be Mario. So who are you?" The copy of the popular hero was shaking, his fists clenched with rage, and Jenna knew that she had struck a nerve. And this gave her the strength to continue. And from the corner of her eye, she saw that there was a door. Her escape opportunity was right there! She smirked at MARIO. "What are you going to do to me?" She taunted. "Are you going to use some of the REAL Mario's moves? How pathetic are you?" She now had her hand on the doorknob, and she truly believed that she could escape.

And then the door opened, and MARIO was standing there. He had learned the power of teleportation, something that the actual Mario never had (as far as Jenna knew, anyway). "This is what is going to happen to you if you dare set foot outside of this room." MARIO reached into the pocket of his overalls and pulled out a crumpled photograph. It was of Princess Peach, smiling and dainty, as she usually looked. But as Jenna watched, the expression turned to one of horror, and her skin began to peel away. Her hair fell out in clumps, and soon her eyeballs dangled from their sockets, falling down. She now looked like Victim Number One. "You're in worse hands than your friend is. I will kill you. You mean nothing to me, and you know nothing." Jenna slid down the wall, clutching her sides and biting her hand…

* * *

"That was close!" Black gasped when the gang was back inside of Vanellope's hideout. They had lost the king and his minions, but only by a little bit of luck. "Let's go ahead and practice!" She said, fanning herself with a hand and turning to Vanellope. With help from Ralph, they made a race track inside of the mountain, perfect for the three karts to drive around. After a good solid hour, they all felt one hundred percent sure that Vanellope could win the race with one hand tied behind her back. Ralph was excited, but he stepped outside of the hideout for a breath of air.

"I'm going to make him something special!" Vanellope announced, rummaging through her belongings until she found an old sugar cookie. She and Lulu covered it with frosting and sprinkles. On one side, they inscribed FOR STINKBRAIN. But on the other, Vanellope wrote in her neatest and best cursive: "You're my hero."

"I think that we should give up our jobs as racers and just become candy artists," Lulu suggested. She was joking, but even so…

"Nah, let's just keep our day job," Black decided, and the trio cracked up before running outside to catch up with Ralph. He was standing by the three karts, staring at the Candy Kart with an odd look in his eyes.

"Hey, we're back!" Vanellope chirped. "Did you miss us?" She didn't wait for his answer, and she had him kneel like a man about to be knighted when she presented him with his medal. "Now rise, my royal chump!" Vanellope commanded, rolling her "Rs". "We have a triple-date with destiny!" She high-fived her two best friends and hopped into the Candy Kart. "Ralph, c'mon! Move your molasses!"

"Um, I've been thinking—"

"That's dangerous," Black joked. Lulu giggled.

"Who cares about this stupid race, anyway? I'm being serious. And it was really fun to build a kart, but maybe you shouldn't do this!" Ralph was acting really weird, even for him, and Black and Lulu had noticed this. Something was wrong. What had happened during their brief time apart? Vanellope's eyes widened, and she reached into Ralph's shirt, removing a medal. It wasn't the one she had made for him. It was the one from Hero's Duty.

"Where did you get this?" She asked.

Ralph was busted. There was no way out of this predicament. "Look, I've been talking with King Candy, and—"

"You sold me out?"

"No, no, you don't understand—"

"Oh, I understand plenty, TRAITOR!" She yelled, throwing the medal in his face. "You're a RAT! And I don't need you to help me win this race. None of us do."

"I'm trying to save your skin, kid!" Ralph shouted, lifting Vanellope out of her kart.

"Put her down!" Lulu ordered, running at the much larger man. He ignored her.

"When the racers see you glitching, they're going to think that the game is broken, and then you'll be put out of order, and that'll kill you!"

"I DON'T CARE! YOU'RE A LIAR! I'm not listening! Get out of my way! I'm going to win that race." She was glitching so badly that her voice was coming out weird. But Ralph managed to suspend her, Lulu, and Black from one of the candy trees. And Vanellope screamed and glitched in horror as she watched Ralph destroy her brand-new kart. When it was all over, she fell from the branch and stared, heartbroken, at the man she once called her friend. "You really are a bad guy," she choked out, running to Lulu, who was holding out her arms, ready to embrace the weeping child. She cradled Vanellope in her arms, glaring at Ralph. Black stood beside the other two racers and just frowned. Her expression was unreadable as she watched Ralph walk away.

"I thought that he would never leave," a whimsical voice mused, and the three girls gasped and huddled closer together when King Candy stepped closer to them, sneering. "Sour Bill, throw them in the fungeon, but keep them in separate cells and as far away from Fix-It Felix as possible!" Lulu perked up. Felix was here? Perhaps there was hope, after all…

* * *

Alicia had not anticipated how terrible it would be to be alone with Corrupted Sonic. "Are you going to kill me?" She asked, shutting her eyes. She couldn't help asking, but she didn't want to look at that awful face anymore. She had to look for her answer, so she peeked through her fingers.

"What's the fun in killing you if I can only do it once?" She gulped. "Are you afraid of me?" Corrupted Sonic asked. He had somehow altered his face to make it look like the original Sonic the Hedgehog, and while this was a welcoming change and a pleasant sight, it didn't fool Alicia at all. "Do you want to see Knuckles now?" She didn't answer, and turned her head to avoid meeting his gaze. He grabbed her chin in his hands and made her look back at him. He had turned back into his true self. "ANSWER ME!" His text box boomed, and she nodded over and over again. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her through a labyrinth of halls and rooms until they reached a metal door. He entered a special code into a panel, which allowed the door to open. He shoved her inside, and Alicia heard the door lock behind her.

The room she was in was pitch black. The only source of light came from a collection of television screens, each one showing a different image, like security cameras at malls. She heard heavy breathing and whispers. "Is someone there?"

"Who are you?" As Alicia's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she made out the shape of the figure stepping closer to her tentatively. The long dreadlocks were there, as were the large hands. But what shone and stood out more than anything were the emerald green eyes that glistened with tears. It was Knuckles.

"I'm Alicia, and I'm here to rescue you," she told him, reaching a hand out to him. He touched it, but with great hesitation. The poor thing was scared to come in contact with anyone. "Where are the others?" She wondered. "Is everyone else still okay?"

"We're fine." Five characters stepped closer, and Alicia had seen two of them from the footage (Tails and Eggman). But the other three were new, but not strangers. How could she forget the adorable bunny with her lovable pet Chao? And everyone knew—and most hated—the sweet pink gerbil with a giant hammer. And finally, there was the princess and rival to Eggman. _What were Sally Acorn, Amy Rose, and Cream doing in Sonic dot exe?_

"In fifteen seconds, that door will open, and we will have approximately seventeen seconds to run for the game exit," Tails calculated, cutting off the train of thought. "I don't know why he's coming in here, and I don't think that we're going to find out if my plan works. None of us can escape. But you can," he told Alicia. "You need to get out of here while you still can."

"But I can't just leave you all!" She protested. Tails began the countdown, whispering each number to himself.

"We'll be fine," Amy promised, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Just go. If we never see you again, then we'll know that you're okay. Even if you're dead, you'll be okay." Tails was reaching the end of the countdown, and Cream and Sally dragged Alicia to the door.

"I'll come back for you!" She shouted, running as fast as her legs could take her. But she remembered the name of one of the stages of this game, and her blood turned ice-cold as she began to panic.

"You can't run."

* * *

The only good thing that had come from being taken back to the candy palace was that Lulu got to look at that portrait of Turbo again. He got more and more dashing each time she saw him, and now she was blushing at the thought of meeting him. She kept telling herself that this was impossible because he was dead, but still…it didn't hurt to dream. Inside of her prison cell, she had plenty of time to dream. But her train of thought crashed when the door to her room opened, and Sour Bill stood there. "His Majesty King Candy is willing to negotiate."

"I'm listening," she told him, sitting up. She had been lying on her crude excuse for a bed, staring at the ceiling and fantasizing about Turbo. "But I'll only talk with him if it means that Vanellope will get to race. Has he mentioned her at all with his 'terms'?" She asked, putting air-quotes around "terms". Bill paused and shook his head. "Then tell him to live long and suck it. I'm not going to talk."

"But I think you should listen," Bill insisted, raising his flat voice a little. "If you agree to his terms, then you and Black Licoricetwist will be released and allowed to participate in today's random roster race. Black's record will be cleared, and she'll be given a fresh start." He hesitated before mumbling, "All he wants in return is your hand in marriage."

If Lulu had been drinking a glass of water, she would have done a spit-take. "HE WANTS WHAT?" She screeched. "I haven't been a character in his game for a full week yet, and already he's putting the moves on me? Second…gross! I'm not going to marry that disgusting, pudgy, old twerp of a man! And THIRD…the number one rule about dating, forget about marriage, is this: if the guy does not like your friends, then you dump him like yesterday's garbage!"

"Hey, I am not pudgy!" The king's voice rang out, causing Bill and Lulu to jump. The ceiling was not that far away from the ground, so she bashed her head on it.

"Oh, my gum, have you been listening to me the whole time?" She asked in disgust. "Gosh, don't you have anything better to do? Don't answer that question," she interrupted when he started to speak.

"Let's cut to the chase, Smarties-Pants," the king growled, narrowing his eyes. Lulu lowered her head so that he wouldn't see her wry smile. He was not in the slightest bit romantic. "There are many pros to accepting my generous offer, such as the racing privileges. Who knows? If you keep racing, you might be as good as me one day." Lulu thought to Turbo, and something clicked in her mind.

"I know why you have that portrait of Turbo. It's a reminder that you'll never be as great as him. That's why you have it here—to remind you that you'll always be a runner-up." She flashed a smug grin at him. "You're never going to be him! And Vanellope and Black are better than you will ever be at playing a game fairly. They don't go out of their way to discriminate against the players and keep them from winning…" She was silenced when he delivered a slap to her face. It didn't hurt that badly, but the shock of the impact cut her off.

"How dare you speak to your king that way?" He hissed. "I refuse to listen to this!" He turned on his heel and began to march away, the bells on his shoes jingling.

But Lulu wasn't finished with him. "You may have won something, but that doesn't mean you're a winner. In fact, I think that you're a total loser." The king paused, but he continued to walk away. Once she was sure she was alone, Lulu pressed her ear against the wall of her prison. "Black? Vanellope? Are you two okay in there?" She heard feeble replies. "Don't you guys worry," Lulu called over, trying to be loud enough for them to hear her but quiet enough to not be overheard by any of the guards. "There's a way out of every video game prison. All we need to do is find that flawed code…" She began to walk around her room, pressing her hands against every solid surface. "I just hope I can find it in time…"

* * *

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_Sally, Amy, and Cream have appeared in a Creepypasta sequel to Sonic dot exe called Sally dot exe. It is not as disturbing as the original. But even so..._

_Review, please! :)_


	13. Chapter 13

**Alicia—Do not worry! You shall save him! But first—**

**PrincessLaLaBlue—I actually can't believe that I wrote the whole last chapter, even the scene with King Candy…my gosh, I'm becoming more scandalous! *giggles* Hee hee hee…anyway! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Dalek—I literally cracked up, because immediately after I posted the new chapter last night, I got the review from you. It was really weird. But I digress. Thanks for reviewing! Oh, and before I forget, you wanted to know the plot of the Portal games? I can't believe you haven't played them! They're awesome! There's a lot of puzzle solving and lots of delicious cake. ;)**

**Jenna—Oh, yeah! There will be plenty more of the Koopalings later, I promise! In fact, here they are now! *applause* Also, I haven't seen Hostel yet.**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—Here you are! Enjoy!**

**Ashuradehedgehog—I'm going to have to be quite frank with you. Your review made little to no sense. And the last two…well, just read the end of this chapter, okay?**

**Bloody NailBunny—No offense, but that last name sounds ridiculous. But I have seen the Jeff the Killer game, and while it is unique and frightening (to an extent), it will not be appearing in this story. I'm sorry. :(**

Chapter Thirteen

Alicia was sprinting as she raced through Game Central Station. Her escape from Corrupted Sonic had been a miracle, and he had been so close to catching her. She didn't catch her breath for a long time, but she did catch up with the one robot she wanted to see: Wheatley. She couldn't go to GLaDOS, Mario, or Sonic. They had already proved to her that they would be of no help to her. Jenna was stuck in another game, and Alicia doubted that the other characters in the arcade were brave enough to venture into the worlds of two viruses. That left Wheatley as her only hope. He was in one of the complex Portal stages, rehearsing his lines for the game plot. "You look like you've seen a ghost. You okay, Alicia?" He was humming a different tune after she explained what had happened and what was going to happen. "You're really, REALLY stupid, you know? I can't believe this! But you seemed smart enough to understand that if a virus gets powerful enough, it can TAKE OVER AN ARCADE!"

"I'm sorry," she rasped in between gasps for air. "But I don't regret it because we can still save Knuckles and the others. But I'm going to need your help. Are you game?" He agreed, but only after Alicia reminded him that his life and reputation were at stake, too. "I only need for you to help me find a way to get the other characters out of the creepy computer games before the arcade opens," she explained. "Do some research. That's what you're good at, remember?"

"Not as good as GLaDOS is," he mused, pressing a few buttons on a nearby control panel. He processed information that ran through his mind, most of which he recited aloud. "Scanning…scanning…loading documents…scanning…this is really boring."

"Get over it," she snapped. "I need the answers really quickly. I know that you don't want to get into trouble with GLaDOS, right? And we can avoid that it you help me think of a plan."

"All right…um, I do have one idea, but it's not a very good one, and I'm not sure that it will work."

"Well, tell it to me," Alicia ordered, folding her arms.

"I think that if the evil Sonic can be distracted long enough by the other characters, you can have them start to evacuate. But if that plan doesn't work, there is one other option, and it works with every machine in the films, so it must work with the video game boss. Make his mind solve a puzzle that has a devastating answer."

"He thinks he is a god," Alicia muttered, thinking. "But, he is a video game character. And video game characters have creators. So he is not god, because he has a creator! Wheatley, you're a genius!" She applauded and praised him. "There's one question I have: who created Sonic dot exe?"

"I have no idea, but I'm looking for it," Wheatley answered. "Scanning…scanning…loading…ERROR. I'm sorry, this is wrong."

"What's the problem?" She asked. "How hard can it be to find out who created him?"

"All I know is that Sonic—the original, I mean—is younger than Mario. I found out the names of their creators, but I couldn't find anything about Sonic dot exe." Alicia thought for a while longer, and then remembered the conversation that Corrupted Sonic had with King Candy. She asked for Wheatley to see if there were any credits shared between the two games. He found nothing.

"Thanks for your help, anyway," she smiled, walking off. "If I'm not back here when the arcade opens, it means I'm dead." She tried to ignore how ominous she made her own fate sound, and she was almost gone when Wheatley called her back.

"I did find something," he announced. "But you'll have to look at it to confirm that I'm not going crazy or that this information is wrong. Because only these names showed up, and they all point to one other person, and this can't be right. The dates don't make any sense." Alicia looked at the single name flashing on a computer monitor in front of her, and gasped. The pieces had fit together, and now she knew that Lulu was just as trapped as she and Jenna were…

* * *

"Did you find it?" Black asked for the millionth time. "The random roster race is starting soon, and we need to be there!" She whined.

"No, I haven't," Lulu replied, gritting her teeth. "These things take time. And maybe your cell is the one with the broken code. Look for anything flickering." She continued to examine her cell. She had had no success in finding a way out, and apparently Vanellope couldn't move at all. She had filled them in on the details behind King Candy's "proposal" and they were just as revolted as she was. "But Jenna told me that you liked him," Vanellope pointed out.

"I like his voice," Lulu chuckled. "But let's face it. If I could marry his voice, I would. But I can't. And I'm not going to marry HIM just so I can hear his voice once in a while." The children had giggled, but quieted down. They thought that they heard voices coming from one of the other cells, but they hadn't seen anybody aside from Felix when they had entered the fungeon…

That had been five minutes ago. And now Lulu was giving up on escaping. That was when a knock came on her door. "Sour Bill, I told you that I'm not interesting in marrying that gross, balding, perverted, nasty man!" She shouted at it. "What part of that do you not understand? I'm running out of adjectives!" The door fell off of the hinges, and there stood Ralph and Felix with the repaired Candy Kart, Swift Twist, and Galaxy Glazer. She was happy to see this, but she knew that they weren't out of the woods yet. "We need to get Black and Vanellope!"

"Mission partially accomplished!" Black declared, popping up behind Ralph and waving. Lulu was pleasantly surprised, but also puzzled.

"Why didn't you let me know that you were already out of your cell?"

Black thought about that. "I really don't know why. I think I wanted to see how long it would take for you to give up on finding a way out. You're more persistent and determined than I thought you were," she complimented.

"Gee, thanks," Lulu said sarcastically as they walked to Vanellope's cell. Ralph smashed down the wall, and Lulu was angry when she saw how terrible the treatment of the sweet girl had been. She had been placed in "glitch-proof" chains, like she said she had been. There was little to no lighting in here, but just enough for them to see what was written on the walls in goofy handwriting. "You've been a bad girl."

"I know, I know, I know. I'm an idiot and a stink-brain," Ralph admitted, apologizing to Vanellope.

"The stinkiest brain ever!" Vanellope corrected, her forgiving smile growing wider by the second. Lulu recognized the reason for the kart being fixed: Fix-It Felix. Who else could it have been? The much smaller man moved out of the way to make room for Ralph, who broke the chains holding Vanellope in one place.

"Now, there has been a slight…plan change," Ralph announced looking Vanellope directly in the eye. "You're still going to race, but you don't have to win. All you have to do is cross the finish line, and then things will be better for you and everyone else in this candy-coated game of darkness!"

"Um, okay, but winning would be nice," Vanellope shrugged. "Oh, my baby, I have missed you," she cooed, stroking the sides of the Candy Kart.

"May I ask what prompted this change of heart and mind?" Lulu asked. She was being curt with Ralph, not because he was the villain of a game, but because he had crushed a little girl's dreams without mercy. But her heart softened when she heard his reasoning.

"It was a discovery. I was back in my game, and I could see Sugar Rush out of the screen. And then I started thinking." He paused. "If Vanellope is a glitch—if she was never meant to exist—_then how come her picture is on the side of the game console_?"

* * *

MARIO had left Jenna alone in the final room of the boss castle to show her that he doubted she was brave enough to flee. She had been sitting in silence for a good long hour, collecting herself, when she heard a shrill whisper. "Jenna, can you hear me?" It was coming from the only window in the room. She ran over to it, looked out, and saw the floating clown head with eight Koopa children inside. "Favorite Son to Hatchlings, the Cake is in the Oven. I repeat, the Cake is in the Oven," Larry said, talking into a walkie-talkie.

"Um, we're right here, you know," Roy told him, making a face. "And you are not his favorite son, you dweeb. I am."

"In your dreams, Big MacHugeLarge! I'm the favorite!"

"No, I am!" The eight siblings began to bicker with each other.

"Uh, does anyone remember that I'm still here?" Jenna called, squinting against the light reflecting off of the head to see them. "And where is your father?"

"Looking for Mario," Wendy replied, examining her long claws. A rope had been thrown across for Jenna to use to climb into the clown head. "They're going to kick MARIO's butt together. But he said that getting you out of here was his first priority, and he told us to go ahead and get you out of here."

"He thinks that MARIO will be too busy with other preparations to notice that you're missing," Ludwig added, and Jenna noticed that he also had the slight British accent that his father had. "But I would like to get out of here as soon as possible, so if you would be so kind as to pick up the pace a little…" She nodded and began to climb across the rope. She looked down once, and gulped. She never had a fear of heights before now...

"Don't look down. Just keep moving," Larry coaxed. She followed the sound of his voice and put one hand in front of the other, continuing to move across. She was about halfway to safety when one of the children cursed.

"He's back! Jenna, MOVE!" She yelped and began scrambling for the clown head, but she wasn't fast enough. And she made the mistake of looking down. What she saw scared her even more than the images of Victim Number One. MARIO was standing right beneath her, just watching her. What was he doing? Then she was freaked out. "I don't want to know. I don't want to know," she repeated. "I don't want to know."

"THEN DO MORE THINGS!" Iggy screamed at her. She tried to move forward, but her forehead hit something hard and slippery. She let one hand go of the rope and touched the air in front of her. There was an invisible wall that wouldn't let her pass.

"I can't move!" She cried. "There's something blocking me!" When she looked down, two text boxes were in front of MARIO, but they could be read by Jenna and the children.

"There's no way out." "Fly away."

"Guys, listen to me carefully," she pleaded when MARIO took on a darker expression. He was coming for her. "I need for you to get out of here and go get your father. Tell him to forget about the real Mario and come here and get me, because I really don't know what is going to happen at this point."

"But—"

"GO!" She yelled. "You're wasting time! We all need to be out of here before the arcade opens!" The kids seemed to be more afraid of a screaming Jenna than they did of a creepy MARIO, so they listened to her and took off, leaving Jenna with only one tiny problem:

"How am I going to stall him until I can be rescued?"

* * *

_Okay, I'm going to make this request once and only once: can we keep the Doctor Who references and Creepypasta requests to a minimum in the reviews? I've never seen Doctor Who. And the two Creepypasta games that you have seen in this story are going to be the only Creepypasta games PERIOD._

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	14. Chapter 14

**Alicia—I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. Like the real Sonic, Corrupted Sonic's biggest weakness is his pride. ;)**

**Jenna—I actually read a theory that said Morton was the favorite son because he was the best at planning evil strategy or something. But don't worry…the Koopalings shall continue to appear, as will Bowser!**

**Kat the Krazy—I'm sure that Raccon Girl would be happy to know that's what you think about her OC. Also, thanks for the wonderful reviews. You rock!**

**Princess LaLaBlue—I'm very glad that you think I have their personalities down, and I'm even happier that you're still reading! And LOL, I love Wheatley! He and I are going to be together forever…*looks at Turbo*. Oh, I also love him!**

**Dalek—I don't mind the length of reviews, but I hate it when people have capitalization issues…especially when they are done deliberately.**

**Ashuradehedgehog—It's okay. Just…try to be more aware of what you write in your reviews, okay? But thanks for reading!**

**Bloody NailBunny—Okay…that's not strange at all…**

**Raccon Girl—I hope you're ready to make Taffyta cry! Whoops! Spoiler alert! Oh, don't worry about not reviewing…just remember to review from now on, okay? I am a review whore! ;)**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos—I'm going to have to say that review counts as DW promotion, but since you're a close friend, I'll make an exception. *hugs* I sent you links to footage of both games.**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist—I love the suspense, too! And I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so far! Thanks for reviewing!**

Chapter Fourteen

MARIO had pulled Jenna inside of her old prison room, but she had managed to delay him by clutching onto the rope and refusing to budge an inch. She made him promise that he wouldn't kill her immediately. Even after he swore to keep her alive, she had to wonder how she could trust him. Jenna had a weird idea pop into her head, and she started giggling. She couldn't help herself: it was just a strange theory. "What is so funny?" MARIO asked, looking at her intently.

"What you're about to do," she responded, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "It's really stupid. Nobody is going to fear you. They're going to fear the real Mario." She smiled at him, but not kindly. "He's going to get the attention and the praise. You're nothing compared to him, and you know it."

He smiled, letting the tight-lipped sneer remain on his face when he spoke to her. "You're right."

"I—I am?" She hadn't expected for him to agree with her on anything, not in a million years.

He nodded, and his eyes glowed red. Okay, so hurting his pride was going to bring harm to her now. "You are twenty percent more intelligent than I thought you were, and one hundred percent correct in making this other estimate."

"I did tell you that I wasn't stupid," Jenna reminded him, thinking that maybe she could gain an advantage by just talking to him. What would Bowser do? In Paper Mario he had had plenty of time to devise an elaborate trap. So did MARIO. But now his plans were being foiled by the very person he had intended to trap. She could see the wheels in his head turning around and around.

"You were right, and it seems that I was mistaken. You are not stupid. I'd go as far as to say that you are rather intelligent." His evil grin was terrible to look at. "This is why I want to see how quickly you can think of a way to get out of your next trap. Think of it as a test, if you must."

Oh, no, this was bad. "What kind of test are you thinking about?" Jenna asked, dragging out each word. She needed to think about this. Puzzles were common in the newest Mario games. But if it was a fighting thing, then she would be doomed.

"Don't worry, it's easy. Even a simpleton like that Bowser could understand it." Jenna scowled when he insulted her favorite villain, but turned pale when he finished his train of thought. "If you live through what will happen to us both, then you'll pass. If you die, you fail."

At least he was honest...

* * *

"Better late than never, right?" Lulu said when they drove towards the sugar stadium. The random race had commenced, meaning that the former prisoners were running late. But according to Black, they would not be disqualified. They would just have a lot of catching up to do.

"Remember, you don't have to win! Just cross that finish line, and you'll be a real racer!" Ralph repeated this little bit as they came closer. He had spent the ride over acting like a weird sports father, telling the kids about how proud he was of them and how he would always consider them winners, even if they lost.

"I'm already a real racer!" Vanellope insisted, steering onto the track and getting into her position behind the starting line. Black and Lulu joined her. But before they took off, the girl with pixlexia looked at Ralph and told him one more thing: "And I'm going to win."

And they were off! "This is the hardest part of the race!" Black told Vanellope via their radio communication system. Giant gumballs tumbled out of even bigger gumball machines like they were boulders. The Swizz had already been eliminated by a green gumball, and Adorabeezle Winterpop had taken care of Jubileena Bing-Bing by crushing her kart beneath a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream ("Oh, no, A la Mode!" The spectator cried.) "Go towards the arrows!" Black shouted, sliding into the path of some yellow arrows. As she drove across them, her kart gathered speed, propelling her into the next section of the race. Lulu and Vanellope followed.

"We're behind you!" Vanellope sang as they passed Crumbelina DiCaramello. "Now we're in front of you!" They had to race up a red velvet cake with layers and cherry decorations now, and the goal was to drive off of the top and land on a bridge across a gap. There were three slight problems now: Taffya, Rancis, and Candlehead. And Candlehead had lit the tops of the cherries on fire with her engine.

"They're making Cherry Bombs!" Black scowled. The cherries began to explode, destroying the cake path and causing Vanellope to glitch, slowing her down.

"I told you that you're just an accident waiting to happen!" Taffyta taunted.

"Oh, that's the last straw!" Black roared, hitting the gas and rushing ahead of the glitching Vanellope. "I am going to watch you fall, and then I'm going to laugh in your fat ugly face!" The three racers ignored her and continued to laugh as they entered a tunnel at the top of the mountain. Before they all could exit, Vanellope glitched ahead of her three tormentors. The bullies were so surprised that they slammed on their brakes. While Black, Lulu, and Vanellope had enough speed to make the jump to the next part of the race, their three opponents did not.

The last time they saw the three of them, they were stuck at the bottom of the cake, crying their eyes out. "I have to give it to Taffyta," Black laughed as they drove forward at a steadier speed. "She knocked out the rest of the competition for us! All we have to worry about is the king!" She tilted her head back and gave a cry of victory. "I told her that I would beat her one day! Oh, sweet justice, how I have waited for you. Now she gets her just desserts!"

"You guys didn't see me when we passed the Sour Patch Kids, did you?" Lulu asked. The last thing she wanted to teach these kids was foul language and obscene gestures. Of course, most people needed their middle finger for when they got stuck in traffic…

"Sorry, you were in my blind spot!" Black replied. Lulu couldn't tell if she was being serious, but decided to focus on their next phase of the race. This was a winter-themed stage with sugary snow and edible white mountains. And ahead of them was King Candy. He glanced in his side mirror in a casual fashion, probably to check his reflection, but did a double-take when the three girls he had forbidden to race passed him, flashing smug smiles in his direction. And then he became so distracted that he drove off of the track!

"How could he have missed that?" Lulu groaned, almost embarrassed by his sheer stupidity. "The sign was right in front of his dopey face! Can HE read?"

"Who cares?" Black yelled as they entered the final tunnel of the race. This one was full of twists and turns, just like a roller coaster, and Vanellope was having a blast. They reached the bottom of one particularly tall part of the track, and from out of nowhere came the one person who the girls thought they would never have to see again: King Candy. The "closed road" must have taken him to a secret track, one that the other racers—including Black—didn't know about. He was still a problem, and Lulu was tempted to ask if there was any way to get rid of him.

"GET OFF OF MY TRACK!" He screamed. "I forbid you to cross the finish line!" He broke off a part of one of their karts—things were happening too quickly for Lulu to tell what it was and where it had come from—and began to smash the Candy Kart. Was he crazy? Vanellope grabbed the car piece and began pulling on it, trying to yank it from the king's grasp. "I'm not letting you undo all of my hard work!"

"Hey, knock it off!" During the struggle, Vanellope's awry pixels seemed to travel along until reaching the king. He began glitching, too, becoming a blob of orange data. And when it all settled down, King Candy's avatar was gone, replaced with another. Lulu gasped when she recognized the white track suit and helmet against the gray skin. But Vanellope didn't. "Who are you?" She screamed. The man looked down at his outfit, surprised by the change, but grinned.

"I'm TURBO, the greatest racer EVER! And I did not reprogram this world to let you and that halitosis riddled warthog take it away from me!" Vanellope whimpered when he put more pressure into the fight, and he managed to get the kart to flip onto its back. Lulu gasped when she saw what Turbo was going to do if he kept driving the kart forward. He would ram Vanellope into a stalagmite! "Turbotastic! End of the line, GLITCH!" He cackled. Vanellope's eyes widened before she closed them, concentrating.

"GLITCH!" She shouted, and her pixels teleported her out of Turbo's way and back on the road to victory. Her two friends sped past the imposter and continued to aid her mission. "Sweet mother of monkey milk, we did it!" Vanellope cheered when they cleared the tunnel. Lulu was glad, too, but when she looked back to see if Turbo was okay, he was gone. She rolled her eyes. That man was full of surprises, wasn't he? And it wasn't like that was a bad thing. She would, however, have to put her foot down with him attempting to murder one of her new friends…

"Bring it home, kids! The finish line is wide open!" That was Ralph, waiting for them. Vanellope nodded and pushed forward. Behind the three karts came some explosions, like volcanoes erupting from under the ground. Instead of lava, robotic, bug-like creatures with green tails and glowing eyes sprung out.

"What are these things?" Black screeched, flicking on the windshield wipers to keep the giant mosquitoes off of her kart. "They're not part of our game!" An explosion came too close to Vanellope's car, and she was sent flying off of the road. Ralph and Felix rushed over, as did Lulu and Black, and the dark-haired racer repeated her question.

"They're Cy-Bugs from Hero's Duty!" Felix answered. "Oh, my land, this is very bad indeed…"

"Let's finish the race and get out of here!" Lulu yelled, pushing some debris off of the Candy Kart. "The finish line is right there!"

"What finish line?" Ralph asked. The Cy-Bugs charged over the colorful line, destroying everything that they touched. It was hopeless.

* * *

Alicia couldn't find Corrupted Sonic right away. It was actually him that found her in the place where Eggman was murdered. She looked at him without fear in her eyes. "I do not believe in you," Alicia stated, keeping her mission short and sweet. If Corrupted Sonic started to have a meltdown as he processed her logic, then she would grab everyone and flee before the game crashed. "You are not God. Turbo is your god! He created you! And even if you were God, I would never serve you. I do not believe in anything or anyone that serves others for the wrong reasons." Everything she said was true. Wheatley had uncovered what had appeared to be a flaw in the information he loaded, but closer examination revealed that a hack had led to the creation of the character named King Candy. The hack was none other than the washed-up racer, Turbo, and this made sense, considering that this wasn't his first offense. And to make matters worse, the real ruler of Sugar Rush, a childlike princess, had been—

Corrupted Sonic chuckled. He hadn't said anything to her at first, and she had taken this opportunity to look around and see where Knuckles and the others were. But the room she had been imprisoned in was nowhere in sight, and it looked as if Corrupted Sonic was the only one with her. Her heart stopped beating. Had he killed the others as a way of punishing her during the time she had spent outside of his game? But now the doppelganger of a hero she had come to despise spoke a single sentence.

"You're in my world now, heretic."

* * *

_Fun bit of trivia: play Turbo's reveal frame-by-frame. After he says, "I'm Turbo!" he'll look into the camera and flash a thumb up. Be warned: it's really creepy._

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	15. Chapter 15

**Jenna—I honestly don't know about who the favorite is. Apparently one of the Japanese creators of Mario said that "Bowser Junior is Bowser's only son". To that, I say HA! Anyway, what did you think about the last chapter? Were you surprised?**

**Raccon Girl—No, that isn't my drawing. I found it when I did a Google search for images, LOL.**

**Ashuradehedgehog-Yeah, I can pause it when he's in 8-bit, but not when he looks normal. You have to have a copy of the movie for that.**

**ChainedDamnation-I'm glad that you're enjoying the story, and yes, the mysterious unnamed game from the first chapter was Sonic dot exe. (I seriously don't know why I can't just write that here on FF...)**

**Alicia—Ditto.**

**Katyuana—Your reviews made me laugh out loud! And in answer to your question…it's fan fiction! Everything will be okay in the end, I promise!**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist—I'm glad that you don't like him that way. *grabs Turbo* HE'S MINE! But anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

**Dalek—Yes, Tammy will appear in this chapter. And I'm sure that Kayla would be pleased to know about your request, but right now she's busy working on other stories (including a Treasure Planet FF, which is awesome). Still, it doesn't hurt to ask her.**

**Kat the Krazy/Disturbed—Did you look at video footage, or did you just read the Creepypasta? The actual videos are way creepier. Still, I'm glad that you got to sleep. For some reason, I woke up at 2:30 in the morning!**

**Princess LaLaBlue—Here you go! ;)**

Chapter Fifteen

This had been the second time that MARIO had left Jenna alone, but he didn't leave the room. He contacted Corrupted Sonic, who looked simply furious. "That little girl got away from me! I told her that she couldn't run, but she escaped!" He slammed his fist down on the keyboard.

"Never mind that now," the false plumber replied. "We have to change our strategy. We're not going to leave our games, after all. We're going to sabatoge them."

"But then we'll die!" Corrupted Sonic protested. "We can't just let all of our hard work go to waste!"

"Don't you see?" MARIO demanded, the words inside of his text box smashing into each other. "By destroying the reputations of those who share our likeness, aren't we destroying ourselves?" Jenna didn't know if Corrupted Sonic was smart enough to understand this reasoning, but the red eyes of the blue hedgehog flashed with fury. "And who did all of this hard work?" MARIO continued, folding his arms. "It was all Turbo. He wanted for us to die and destroy those who rivaled him for attention!"

"We were created to destroy ourselves," the reply of Corrupted Sonic said, the words distorted. "And for what purpose is that? I say we foil is plans!"

"I'm sending you…something," MARIO told his brother, pressing a few buttons on the control panel. "Look over it. And I won't be seeing you later." That last part was dark, even for him, and what was even more frightening was Corrupted Sonic's reaction to it. He became serious for a change, and gave a curt, solemn nod before ending the transmission. Then MARIO turned back to Jenna. "We're going back to the very beginning, the place where it all started." He dragged her back to the first stage of the first world, which looked unchanged. But then he walked over to the Yoshi egg block and released Yoshi.

The dinosaur looked at him, gave a cry of fear, and tried to run away. MARIO simply reached over and grabbed him by the neck. He held the squirming creature in his fist for a good, long time before he snapped its neck. Jenna swallowed her fear when she read what was on the next text box. She didn't have to time to run away, so he managed to trap her inside of the Yoshi egg with little to no effort. She began to freak out. Jenna hated being in small spaces, and she was beginning to hate the dark, too.

"I'm suffocating! Let me out!" She cried, flicking her fingers against the egg shell. This was the most movement she could make, given that her arms and legs felt like they were glued to her sides.

The last thing that MARIO had told her hadn't been encouraging in the slightest. "In the gamers' world, men would use this as a method of torture. Here's your test, genius. Find a way out of that egg before the arcade opens. If you run out of air before you can escape, you die and fail. If somebody starts to play this game and sees you instead of Yoshi, then we're both going down."

* * *

Alicia had been bold when she entered his game, but now she was beginning to regret this decision. Corrupted Sonic had just...walked away from her. He hadn't threatened her after calling her a heretic. He just walked away. Alicia figured that this was some weird form of reverse psychology, and it was working, because she followed him into the room where his "sidekicks" were being held hostage. It was too dark for her to see what was going on inside, but she heard a muffled scuffle between two of the characters, and then Corrupted Sonic stepped into the light, dragging Knuckles by his red dreadlocks. "If you move any closer to us, he dies," the blue rodent told her. "And I won't be bringing him back." She believed him, and to prove that she was willing to cooperate, she took a step backwards. Knuckles gasped from fear, his shoulders shaking with subdued sobs.

She followed them to the Tails stage of the vulgar video game, where Corrupted Sonic led them past the bodies of the forest animals. He stopped at the very end of the stage, where Tails would be challenged to play with him. "You have a choice now," Corrupted Sonic told her, holding a gun to the head of Knuckles. Alicia gasped, recognizing it as one of the inventions that Tails had used in a Gameboy Advance Sonic game. "When the arcade opens, you can run for Game Central…or smile at the player."

Outside of their universe, the lights began to switch on in the arcade. Time was running out.

* * *

The world of Sugar Rush had ended, and the only thing left to do was to evacuate the characters. Sgt. Calhoun from Hero's Duty was in charge of that, as well as the main threat against the Cy-Bugs. "If only this was Hero's Duty!" Calhoun complained, firing at the bugs. "We could have them destroyed in an instant. All they care about is a bright, shiny light." Ralph's eyes lit up, and he glanced back to the Diet Cola Mountain. Mento mints fell from the top into the sugary waters inside, creating tiny explosions. But if they all fell in at once, that would create an explosion...and a beacon of light...powerful enough to seduce the strange monsters into their death.

"I'm going with you," Lulu told him, hopping onto his back. He gave her a piggy-back ride all the way there. She knew what they had to do, and she was not afraid of dying. If she was a part of Sugar Rush, then she could regenerate. But Ralph...there was a chance that he could survive. So when they reached the top of the mountain and began to smash the Mentos into the cola water below, she still had hope. And she assisted him, until a loud voice announced: "Welcome to the boss stage!" She looked up and screamed. It was Turbo, and now she knew what had happened to him. A Cy-Bug had absorbed him, but he had taken over the data, and was now operating the body. His face flickered from King Candy to Turbo, and his regal robes were on the body of the monster.

"Thanks to you, I'm now the most powerful virus in the arcade!" Turbo declared. "I can take over any game that I want to! I suppose I should thank you, but it'll be more fun to kill you." He lunged at the wrecker, but Ralph leapt out of the way. "Come back here, little guy!" The former king teased. He managed to trap Ralph in one of his hideous hands and seized Lulu in the other, lifting them high into the air. If he dropped them, the fall would kill them, and Ralph wouldn't be able to come back. But that wasn't what they were worried about. From this high up, they could see the exit to Sugar Rush. Felix and Calhoun were out of harm's way, but Black and Vanellope were cornered by the bugs. "Oh, look, those are your little friends!" The beast cried. "Let's watch them die together, shall we?" He forced Ralph and Lulu to look at the trembling girls. "It's the end of both of you!"

"No," Ralph corrected. "Just for us!" He broke free of Turbo's grasp and released Lulu, and they both tumbled down to the top of the Diet Cola Mountain. The impact of them against the explosive mints would cause the volcano to erupt, and this would create a light powerful enough to attract and destroy the Cy-Bugs. As he fell, Ralph recited the Bad-Anon chant, and Lulu's eyes filled with tears when she saw that he was holding onto Vanellope's medal. He had kept it, after all!

They were inside of the mountain now, surrounded by clouds of chunky white mints. Ralph looked so serene as he prepared to embrace his death. But the buzzes and hums in the air were ruining the moment. But Lulu didn't see any of the Cy-Bugs in the mountain...but she did see Vanellope! She had glitched her way past the Cy-Bugs and taken control of another racer's car (Crumbelina's Tira-Missile), and caught Ralph and Lulu, saving their lives. "Hold on, I'm getting us out of here!" Vanellope shouted, glitching their way out of the mountain, just as it erupted. "Don't worry," the little girl added, saluting Ralph. "I've got it under control!" And she wasn't talking about the situation anymore. Her glitching powers were now easy for her to control! She had mastered her own talent! Just as they predicted, the light was bright...so bright that the bugs stopped what they were doing and fluttered over to it, forgetting their missions and purposes.

"You fools, what are you doing? Don't go into the light…" Turbo started to say. But part of the data he had embraced was mesmerized by the brilliant beam of light, and he was drawn to the source. "No!" He yelped, the terrified face of Turbo appearing. "Yes," he would whisper as King Candy. "No! Yes! No! No! DON'T GO INTO THE LIGHT—"

These were the last words he said before he was drawn into the deadly heat. The threat to the kingdom of Sugar Rush was dead, as were his minions. Calhoun smiled and returned to Game Central, ready to tell the citizens and racers that they could return to their home. But back at the finish line, Felix fixed up everything that had been destroyed by the bugs. He would be able to restore the rest of the game to its former glory, but there would be time for that later. "Are you ready for this?" Lulu asked her friend, turning to the ebony-haired girls with tears in her eyes. She was so relieved that the pain they had been forced to endure was finally at an end.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Vanellope answered, rolling her kart across the repaired finish line…

* * *

_Yesterday my laptop crashed, and you'll never guess why. IT WAS A FREAKING TROJAN HORSE. I tried to get my brother to share his computer, but he became a greedy little shit and changed his computer password and tattled to Dad. And Dad gave me a lecture, blah blah blah. Fuck it. Revenge shall be mine. (Pardon my language, by the way. It's just...GRRRR! I'm so frustrated!)_

_Also, I changed my mind. I found footage of BEN on YouTube...and let's just say that it will be appearing in this story later on. I won't say when and I won't say how big of a role it will have...okay, it'll have a big role. And to give you an idea of the creepiness...it's not as creepy as Sonic dot exe, but it is just as scary, if not more, as MARIO. It isn't as violent, but I still say view at your own risk._

_Review, please! :)_


	16. Chapter 16

**Dalek—I hope you know that you don't have to write two identical reviews for me to be able to tell who you are…but I digress. It's so cool that you're part of a set of triplets, and I guess that one of your other siblings is pretty close to me (since I am here in Georgia). And hey, I'm trying to update as quickly as I can. Just...try to hold on, okay? I haven't given up on this story!**

**Ashuradehedgehog-I actually saw the videos on my own, and I was so inspired (in a freaky kind of way) that I decided to include it. And I spent all of my government class planning the role in the story, and trust me when I say that things are going to get awesome! I hope you keep reading!**

**Imagine And Create-I'm very glad you think so! And I hope you keep reading!**

**Kat the Krazy-This name is easier for me to type than your actual account name, LOL. Anyway, I answered your question in a PM, and I am so excited about what you are going to do! Keep me posted, okay? Thanks for reviewing!**

**KaylaKissesKangaroos-I like the story, too, even if it is a little weird. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Raccon Girl-You better believe it! ;)**

**EpicDjKitty—I'm sorry for the delay, but here is the new chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing! You rock!**

Chapter Sixteen

A crowd of racers and citizens had gathered by the finish line, and they were present when Vanellope's kart made the line light up and start flashing. Sparkling, glittering energy seemed to flow from the ground and dance towards Vanellope. "What's with all the magic sparkles?" She demanded as she was lifted from her kart, the mysterious energy transforming her racing outfit into a puffy pink gown. A lollipop-shaped scepter appeared in her right hand, and a tiara settled on top of the crown of her head. The same sparkles lit up the eyes of everyone else present, including Black, and it was as if a veil was lifted from their face, making them see something that they hadn't seen before.

"I remember now!" Sour Bill exclaimed, rushing next to Vanellope and regaining his monotone voice. His appearance was a little improved. A purple sucker was stuck on his head, like a hat. "All hail the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush, Princess Vanellope."

The racers gasped. "She's a princess! I remember now! Oh, that's right!" "We are so sorry for the way we treated you," Taffyta said at once, and Lulu believed her. The hatred in her eyes was gone, replaced with sincerity and empathy.

"Yeah, those were just jokes," Rancis claimed, forcing a nervous chuckle.

"Was it just a joke when you pushed her in the mud? Was it funny when you smashed her kart and called her names?" Black asked, and the racers looked ashamed. "I remember that she's a princess now," Black continued, leaning over and giving Vanellope's hand a small squeeze. "And I remember that you never would have been this mean to her before we had a king!"

"I was just doing what Taffyta told me to do!" Candlehead exclaimed before the others started talking over each other, each trying to make amends with the girl they once tormented.

"Tut-tut," Vanellope called, cutting them off. "As your merciful princess, I hereby decree that everyone who was ever mean to me shall be…" She paused for dramatic effect, and the racers looked at her, hope shining on their faces. "...executed." The racers gasped and fell to their knees, begging for mercy and crying.

"Oh, things just got interesting here," Calhoun commented, but Ralph and Lulu didn't look so sure. "You're not really going to kill them, are you, Vanellope?" Lulu asked, crossing her fingers. What if there was some weird error with the game that made the main characters ruthless and sadistic? Was this the true Vanellope?

"No, I'm just kidding!" Vanellope cracked, and Lulu breathed a sigh of relief. "Stop crying, Taffyta!"

"I'm trying...it won't stop," Taffyta sniffled. Streams of black mascara were running down the cheeks of the former bully, and Lulu rushed over to comfort her.

"Personally, I'm sick of the whole monarchy thing," Vanellope announced. "I'm going to make it a presidency!" She turned to Black and grinned. "Do you like the sound of 'Vice President Black Licoricetwist'?"

"I love it!" Her friend declared, hugging the former princess and current president tightly. And then Vanellope turned to Lulu. "As your official president, I hereby dub thee, Lulu Smarties-Pants, the official Guardian of all Sugar Rush racers and Ambassador to all Arcade Systems."

She was too overwhelmed by this to hear anything that followed. She didn't even see Ralph leave with Felix and Calhoun. She didn't faint from the shock, and she had to get the excitement out of her system somehow. She thought that her own grin would break her face when Vanellope shouted, "Let's race! It's my first day back on the job, after all!"

* * *

When the games in the arcade were about to be played, a booming voice would announce: "QUARTER ALERT." Jenna had wondered how quarters could be inserted into a computer, but she guessed that they had somehow found a way to make this happen, because she heard the bellow, even inside the confines of the egg. She was getting sweaty, and it was becoming hard for her to breathe.

"Hey, Mr. L, I think that this computer got busted," the boy named Mutahar called over his shoulder, and the owner of the game haven came over, saw what was on the screen, and sighed. Jenna knew that she wasn't the problem because her egg hadn't been hatched yet! So what were they talking about?

"It's another darn Trojan game! All right, why don't you go for a ride on the Sugar Rush express while I try to get this fixed? And here's a refund for your wasted time," he added, dropping fifty cents into the boy's pocket.

"You rock, Mr. L!" The teenager beamed, walking away. The grown man chuckled modestly and turned his attention back to the monitor, only to find that the issue was no longer there, and the Yoshi egg box had been hit.

"Now, where did he go?"

* * *

The Koopa family was talking so much that Jenna could barely make out who was saying what, but she did catch what Bowser was telling her. "It's okay now. You're safe." He was the one who had freed her from her hollow cell. He broke the egg, scooped her up in his muscular arms, and carried her into the clown head machine. He had yet to set her down, but Jenna didn't want to leave his embrace just yet...

But she had to. Alicia needed her help, and she needed it now. When Bowser set her down on the floor of Game Central, she took off running into Sonic dot exe, knowing that it was only a matter of minutes before everything inside was lost forever.

* * *

The Moppet Girl had been in the computer section of the arcade as well, hoping to enjoy some of the limelight that Sonic basked in. She frowned. "What's a Sugar Rush racer doing in a Sonic game?" She turned and let Litwak know about it, and he groaned and announced that he was closing the computer section for the rest of the day. And then two things happened in unison. One: Alicia didn't die. And the second: she raised her foot up and kicked Corrupted Sonic in his family jewels...so hard that she thought that her foot would split in half. And when he yowled in pain and grabbed the place where it hurt the most, releasing Knuckles, she turned to the awestruck victims and screamed at them to run away. She led the way, and when they broke through the entrance to Game Central, she gasped for relief. The plan had worked.

But what she hadn't planned on was Sally turning back to the game from where she had come. "Sonic, my love," she whispered in a faint rasp before running back inside. She was going back for him! The Doctor Eggman who had suffered with her realized her intentions and followed her into the game. Tails would have followed him if a hand hadn't grabbed him from behind.

"Don't go in there!" Jenna pleaded, restraining the young fox. "It's too late for them!" And she was right. Not a second later, the game was unplugged. The words that had previously said SONIC DOT EXE now read: UNPLUGGED. The now homeless inhabitants of the game looked at this change and began to react in different ways. Tails ran to Cream and Amy for comfort, and the three of them just sat together for what felt like the longest time. But Knuckles stared at the place where his two companions had last been seen and began to shake.

"I've killed him!" He screamed. "I've killed him! My friend is dead! And Sally is dead! The doctor is dead! My best friend is dead, and I've killed him! SONIC THE HEDGEHOG IS DEAD!" A crowd of characters stopped what they were doing and stared at the hysterical red animal. Alicia watched them for a minute, and then her own cheeks flushed red, but not with shame. She was furious, but not with him.

"He wasn't your friend!" Alicia cried, no longer caring that they were attracting a small crowd. "He was not!" She forced Knuckles to look at her. She almost drowned in the sorrow of his emerald eyes, but tried to stay strong. "Tails, Amy, and Cream are your friends. I'm your friend now." Knuckles broke down, sobbing as he had before Corrupted Sonic killed him time and time again. The nightmare was over. "I'm your friend now," Alicia repeated, taking him into her arms for a hug, and he nodded.

* * *

_Until my computer can get fixed, I don't know how frequent updates will be. You all will have to bear with me for now, okay? *smiles weakly* I'm doing the best I can right now._

_Also, another game will be appearing in my story: Imscared: A Pixelated Nightmare. BE WARNED: this game is extremely creepy, and I do not want for anybody out there to download this game. It is a virus. (It isn't the one that made my computer leave me...but still...)_

_Review, please! :)_


	17. Chapter 17

**Dalek—I'm sorry, but I'm only going to say this one more time: can we please cut back on the Doctor Who references? If you're going to continue adding references and nagging me in reviews, I'm going to turn off the anonymous reviews option. But I love your OC! Can I use her in the story?**

**ChainedDamnation-Get used to disappointment. Turbo will return. And he is going to love me. 3 But OMG, I totally didn't think about that reference! I'm so glad you pointed it out. (And I am a Paper Mario fan, too, lol.)**

**ahabert-I hope you keep reading, then! ;)**

**TheWitchThatLivesInTheJungle-Soon. Good things come to those who wait.**

**Alicia—That's good to know, but I wasn't planning on having that game in my story. I did try looking it up, but I couldn't find anything about it…**

**Raccon Girl—I know, right? Anyway, the story isn't over yet! Keep reading!**

**BloodyNailBunny-I'm sorry. Your review made NO SENSE.**

Chapter Seventeen

Jenna and Alicia had expected to be fired from C.O.D.E., not rewarded by it! But here they were at an extravegant award ceremony in their honor! "It is our honor to present these medals of bravery to Wheatley, Jenna Jella-Beans, and Alicia Rish, for their courage and selflessness in times of danger," Mario concluded, pinning the medals onto the said people. Applause erupted from everyone who was attending.

"Oh, that's me they're talking about!" Wheatley gasped, and he would have beamed if he had more facial expressions. For someone who wanted to be a villain, he sure didn't seem to mind being given a medal in front of dozens—maybe hundreds—of other video game characters. And now all eyes were on Alicia and Jenna. "I really don't know what to say! I'm speechless!" Wheatley babbled.

"Then perhaps you should be quiet and let Alicia and Jenna speak," GLaDOS suggested, her voice as cold as usual. Now the room was full of an expectant silence, and Jenna blushed. She was never that great of a public speaker, so she moved aside and let Alicia take the spotlight.

"We just wanted to say…" Alicia cleared her throat. "It's been an honor working with C.O.D.E. and we feel really happy that we could make the world safer for everyone here. But we're retiring."

Sonic gasped, and Mario did a double-take. "You're not serious," the hedgehog chuckled. "You must be joking. You're only kidding, right?"

"Oh, that depends," Jenna whirled on him. "Were you kidding when you refused to help us save those who needed you the most?" The two heroes were speechless. (For Sonic, this was a first. For Mario, this was normal.) But the other characters present began to mutter amongst themselves, glaring daggers at the iconic characters. "The same goes for you, GLaDOS!"

"It is in my nature to refuse to cooperate," she replied. Did she always have to have an excuse for everything? "I am the villain, after all."

"So what's their excuse?" Alicia demanded, pointing to Sonic and Mario. "They're supposed to help us! They're the heroes!"

"We...didn't think that it was that big of a threat?" Sonic suggested weakly.

"You're a joke," Jenna muttered in disgust, storming out of the room. Alicia didn't follow her, and she hoped that her friend was giving the rest of the characters the what-for and the other aspects of a long lecture. But someone did follow her.

"Jenna, wait!" A gruff British voice called out, and she stopped, her heart pounding. He even remembered her name! "You're not thinking about doing anymore game jumping, are you?" Bowser asked, his brow furrowing with concern. "The arcade will open soon, and if you get trapped in another one of those Trojan games—"

"No, no, don't worry about that," she reassured him. "It's not like there are any other games that could hurt us now, right?" She giggled. "Also, I'm not working for Sonic and Mario anymore, so I'm not really likely to go running into dangerous situations anymore." She rolled her eyes. "If you ask me, telling those jerks off was the best thing that happened to me all year."

"Aw, they're not so bad once you get to know them," Bowser chuckled. "And believe me, I've had plenty of time to get to know Mario."

"I'm surprised you're defending him," Jenna admitted, playing with a strand of hair. She couldn't believe she was having such a casual conversation with the big bad Bowser. "He's the guy who kicked your butt so many times, after all."

"Outside of the game, he's a nice guy. My kids-some of them-just adore him," he laughed, and Jenna smiled, thinking of the sweet Koopalings and how they worked so hard to protect her. "I've talked to him about potential babysitting opportunities," Bowser continued, "but working with C.O.D.E. has taken up so much of his time that we don't think that he can manage it at all." Jenna chuckled, thinking about the kids. They were so sweet and cute and funny...

"I wouldn't mind baby-sitting them," she hinted. "It's the least I can do after everything you and the little ones did for me and Alicia." Bowser seemed a little hesitant, but then his eyes lit up.

"That's actually not a bad idea! You can stay in the palace and get to know the arcade better, what with you being new and all. And that way I can keep a closer eye on you. We wouldn't want you running off into danger, after all." Bowser was only joking a little, but even so…

"I told you that I wasn't going to go into any other games, and I meant it. I still mean it," Jenna reminded him, and they all breathed a little easier.

* * *

Alicia found Knuckles standing away from the crowds of people in Game Central long after the ceremony ended. He wasn't crying, but he did look depressed. "You should have let me die," he told her when she approached, unable to bring himself to look into her eyes. "The world would be better without me in it. I've seen so much...I'm too weak to go on now. It should just end now."

"This isn't the Knuckles I know." _This isn't the Knuckles I love_. She didn't say that last part. Now wasn't a good time. "You need to move on," she said gently. "It's what Sally and Eggman would have wanted, right? And it's what Amy, Cream, and Tails need for you to do right now…and they need to recover, too. And they can't do it alone," she added. Mentioning the other three survivors seemed to have hit a certain place in his heart, because he was listening to her. "They need your help, and I need for you to stay with us right now."

"Why do you care so much about me?" He demanded, glaring at her. "I'm just the stupid background character in a much bigger world! I'm nothing compared to Sonic!"

"Because there are a lot of people here—inside the arcade games and out—that care about you," she said. "And I do too, and I want for you to remember that no matter what happens, I'll be here for you." She gave him a fleeting hug before leaving him alone.

* * *

It had been a long day of racing, and the roster race didn't begin for a few more hours, meaning that the racers had time to adjust to their new life. "We can't apologize enough," Jubileena said to Vanellope and Black. "We don't know what to do, what to say..." Lulu rolled her eyes and smiled. She had long ago forgiven them.

"Or what to think," Candlehead added.

"Candle, you NEVER think," Taffyta told her, and they all giggled, even the ditzy girl with the candle on her hat. "I'm only teasing," she told her close friend. "The game wouldn't be the same without you."

"Well, I'm not ready to forgive you," Black said to Taffyta. "I know that you've apologized, and it must be really hard for you to say that you're sorry, but I don't know if you mean it yet. And until I know for sure, I don't know how to feel towards you."

"Do you know what the worst part was?" Snowanna whispered. The others looked at her. "I think I kind of knew something was wrong...but I didn't want to say anything."

"Oh, sweetie, you know that we wouldn't have thought any less of you for speaking your mind," Adorabeezle started to say.

"It wasn't you guys," Minty interrupted, agreeing with Snowy. "It was Turbo. He was always in our minds, and whenever I tried to speak for myself, I'd get stuck...like it was Nesquik Sand."

"Well, I know what they can do to make it up," Vanellope announced to everyone.

"Anything you want us to do, we'll do," Rancis told her, his fair cheeks turning pink. He seemed to have developed a crush on his new president, one that she seemed unaware of.

"Well, then, drive over to the castle," she told her new subjects. "Meet me in the throne room in fifteen minutes." The others nodded and took off, leaving Lulu and Black alone with the president.

"Do I even want to know what you're going to do?" Lulu asked, massaging her temples.

"Oh, you'll see," Vanellope smirked.

* * *

The throne room was still pink, but the portrait of Turbo had been moved from the hall into the room. Sitting next to it was the kart that the king had driven while he was controlling everyone. Vanellope was standing next to both of these items, glaring down at them.

"When you totaled my car, I wanted Ralph to destroy your karts, too," she admitted. "But this was before we were friends. And this was before I knew that you weren't…yourselves. It was Turbo the whole time." She moved aside. "Now I want for you to destroy the hack that was hacking all of us. I want to get rid of everything that belonged to his." She wasn't being spiteful. She was too matter-of-fact, too casual. She wasn't obsessed with erasing the evidence of Turbo…she wanted for Black to be friends with the others, and she was hoping that this would break any tensions between them. She tossed various objects at the racers: crude candy baseball bats, candy cane branches, and other tools. The racers got the hint and stepped forward to do their job. They did it with so much more enthusiasm than they did back in the junkyard with the homemade kart. They shouted insults in Turbo's name.

"Turbo Trashtic!"

"Turbo Smashtic!"

"Turbo Crashtic!"

"Turbo Bashtic!"

Finally, it was time for Vanellope to make her mark on the kart. "Spare your jealousy," she coined. "I'll slash your tires." With that said, she tore the tires with a spork, deflating them. And the racers cheered.

"And, the final touch..." Black stepped over to the portrait of the once beloved racer. Using a tube of black frosting, she drew a mustache on his face. The group gathered in the room giggled.

* * *

_Good news: my laptop is back! Bad news: I don't have Microsoft Word. I have this thing called WordPad instead, and it is nothing compared to MW. *rolls eyes* But for now, I think it's safe to say that the daily updates are back on track!_

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	18. Chapter 18

**Alicia—I hope you're not too mad about this update being late, LOL. Anyway, here's a chapter with plenty of you and Knuckles in it! Thanks for reading!**

**ThatWitchThatLivesInTheJungle-Thank you very much. :)**

**ChainedDamnation-Oh, you'll see what happens next...but you are on the right track!**

**Ashuradehedgehog-You can read FF on a Nintendo DS? I had no idea! I might have to get one of those! Anyway, I'm glad that you're still reviewing this story!**

**aharbert-I'm so happy that this is one of your favorite WIR stories! And I hope you keep reading and reviewing! And I'll try to update daily! (In addition to the explanation given at the end of this chapter, this one was a really tough one to write for some reason.)**

**EpicDjKitty-Here you go! ;)**

**dalek-I've been doing my best to please you. I am juggling fan fiction, my classes, my play writing activities, and family business, especially since my father's birthday is tomorrow. If you cannot be patient with me, I am going to turn off the anonymous reviews.**

**OriginalPrincess-I didn't know what to think about it. To be honest, I was kind of happy that Disney hadn't gone and placed a dirty image like they had in The Rescuers or in their other movies. But I digress. Thanks for reviewing!**

**PrincessLalaBlue-Things will get better for him soon, I promise. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

**Raccon Girl—Don't worry about that. Here is something to make it up to you!**

Chapter Eighteen

Bowser's fortress was just as big to the video game character as it was to the players, if not larger and more impressive in person. Jenna was blown away by the structure, the setting, and those who lived inside. She had knocked on the enormous door once, and the one who answered it was none other than THE Kammy Koopa, magical babysitter and second-in-command to the King of all Koopas! "The sign says that we don't want anything that you're selling," she barked.

"Oh, no, no, it's not like that at all," Jenna quickly said. "I'm the new...sitter." Kammy's eyes widened, and she allowed Jenna inside.

"The kids are upstairs hiding from you, so you should have a nice, peaceful evening," the old Koopa told her. "And there's money for pizza over by the green table in the east drawing room, so if any of you get hungry, you can go ahead and order some. A list of emergency contacts is found in the other room, too. But I trust that nothing will do wrong." She said it in a joking way, but her eyes had no light-hearted sparkle in them. Jenna tried not to appear nervous.

"You, uh, seem pretty close to the king," she complimented, sounding so strange calling Bowser "the king". "Why don't you look after his kids? I'm sure you are more than capable of handling them."

Kammy laughed. "Those little monsters are harder on me than they are on Mario! I've tried and tried to look after them, but it's hopeless with me. I'm too old and they're too young. But you, you can do a much better job than I can." She gave Jenna a smile which wasn't very pretty, but was still sincere in meaning. "If the king trusts you, then I'll give you a chance, and I'm sure that the kids will, too."

"Where is Bowser, by the way?" Jenna asked. She was a little disappointed that he hadn't been here to talk with her and introduce him to his offspring in person, but she was sure that he had his reasons. And hey, she didn't mind talking with Kammy, a pretty cool character from Paper Mario and other games in the series.

"I actually don't know for sure," Kammy admitted, scratching her head with a wrinkled claw. "All he said was that he had a few choice words to say to Mario and that they were meeting up in Tapper's...but he also said that he wasn't thirsty when I asked him what he was going to drink." She shook her head. "I worry about him sometimes. He's so skinny! He needs to eat more!" She sighed. "But he is the king, so my advice always comes second to what he thinks is right." She straightened up. "Anyway, I must be off. I'm meeting Peach and Zelda over in Hero's Duty, so I should be back soon. If I'm not back before game hours, that means that something bad has happened." With that, she departed, flying away on her broomstick.

Jenna felt alone, and she felt uncomfortable with having such a huge castle to explore on her own. The traps that could be found in the Mario game were nowhere to be found, which made the place seem more hospitable, but still, it was too much to take in. After wandering around for what felt like hours, she located the stairs that would take her to the children. But that required walking. And by the time she reached the second story, she was panting and sweating. She groaned. Taking care of the kids would be fine, but first she would have to locate them. And that was something that she wasn't sure she could quite handle...

* * *

Clyde was surprised to see Alicia back in Pac-Man, this time with Knuckles and other Sonic characters, but he was also very reasonable. "In the SEGA folklore and history, the first appearance of a red echidna features him as a rival for Sonic. Although he is commonly thought of as an anti-hero, he still qualifies as a potential member of Bad-Anon. But I'm afraid that the others don't quite meet the requirements."

"We're not interested in joining Bad-Anon," Knuckles growled. "I don't even know why we are supposed to be here." The youngest characters present were Cream and Tails, and they were glancing around in awe. Alicia realized that this was their first time being around people who didn't want to hurt them or see them in any kind of pain, and her heart went out to them. She walked over to Clyde and continued to talk with him.

"I'm worried about them, especially Knuckles," Alicia admitted. She sighed. "He's acting like it's only fair that he end up dead like a few of the others did." She shuddered, remembering Sally and Eggman.

"The life of a character is identical to the life of a player by one thing: life is never fair," Clyde smiled. "A fair is a place where you get to eat cotton candy and ride the Ferris wheel. And Knuckles needs to consider that he's very lucky to have survived such an ordeal and still found a place of acceptance in an unfamiliar world. And that's he's fortunate to have a friend like you," he added, winking. Alicia smiled, but she couldn't help but wish that they could be more...

"Will you help them?" She asked. "I don't know how much experience you've really had as a counselor outside of Bad-Anon, but I would still really appreciate it if you could try."

Clyde became so thoughtful that he turned blue, and Alicia held her breath and crossed her fingers for luck. "I will," Clyde said at last, and she cheered in silence. "But I don't know what the results will be," he told her. "I'm still just a character in a game, like you are."

"It's worth a try," she replied.

* * *

The Sugar Rush racers had grown closer and closer together over the course of twenty-four hours, and anything that Black was holding against Taffyta and the others was gone now. She had shared her feelings and thoughts with everyone before the random roster race registration began. "Can I tell you guys something? I really felt bad...sorry, even...for Turbo. And I still do." The reaction was pure shock.

"Are you insane?" Minty demanded, placing her hands on her hips. "He ruined our world, tried to kill our president, overthrew her and made himself the king, made us act the opposite of who we are, and you actually _feel sorry for him_?"

"I know what he's done, and I know that it isn't right," Black retorted. "And I am glad that he can't hurt any of us anymore. But at the same time...he must have been pretty scared the whole time, you know?" This statement was met with stares of confusion. "First he was afraid that his game was going to be unplugged and that he was going to die and be forgotten...no longer play with the outside world. And that's why I think he went crazy. But then he came here, and he was too afraid to reason with us...too afraid of the competition, so he tried to take out all of us. He nearly succeeded with Vanellope." A few of the reformed racers whimpered at this statement. "And he was afraid of being alone...afraid of being discovered...and afraid of having his whole web of lies become unraveled."

"He was still a lying son of a gum," Taffyta hissed, throwing her lollipop on the ground and crushing it with the heel of her shoe. "And I'm not sorry at all for hurting him. No, wait, I take that back," she said, pasting mock thoughtfulness onto her face. "I am sorry that we didn't get a chance to really hurt him more."

"At least we got to wreck his kart," The Swizz reminded her, hoping to keep things peaceful between the goth girl and her former enemies. "But Black is right," he added, and the red-eyed racer smiled. "He was kind of jumpy at times," he recalled, leaning back against his car. "And he was always afraid of losing to one of us. That's why he was so harsh and reckless on the tracks."

"I guess that's true," Gloyd admitted. "But who cares about winning? I just like to have fun with it!" Black smiled at him and nodded. Lulu couldn't help but notice that the two of them were getting along better than she was with the others, and she wondered why that was...

Then they had signed up for the race after Vanellope reminded her subjects of the rules and how the races went. Her name was the first to appear on the board, instead of being last, like it was last time. "I hope that Mutahar will be here tomorrow!" Jubileena sighed after tossing her coin into the giant cup.

"You just want to see if he'll play with you," Adorabeezle gagged. "He is so not your type."

"He is!" The cherry-themed girl blushed. "He's funny and smart and..." Lulu, who had just registered and had been overhearing this part of the conversation, giggled and drove away. She needed to clear her head, and decided to drive over to the Diet Cola Mountain to see if anything that belonged to Black and Vanellope survived the eruption. After digging around through clusters of melted mints and sizzling puddles of soda, she determined that nothing remained, and perhaps this was for the best. They all needed to move on, and the memories of the dark times would keep them from embracing the better, brighter future.

"Lulu..."

She froze and looked down. Turbo was on the ground a few feet away from her in his original racer form, twitching and glitching like he was having a panic attack. He glanced up at her and reached a hand towards her. She backed away, staring at him like he was a snake. "Help me," he begged. "Or else I'm going to die..."

* * *

_I'm sorry about not updating yesterday or the day before. Life got in the way. (*looks at Dalek* I kind of HAVE one, you know.)_

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :) _


	19. Chapter 19

**DarkMagicianMagic-That's good to know. Maybe if we ignore him, he'll go away. But I digress. Thank you for reading and reviewing.**

**Ashuradehedgehog-Hey, I never thought about the first Fix-It Felix guy. Maybe I will talk about him in my story! And OMG, have you seen Up yet? It's one of my favorite Pixar movies!**

**ChainedDamnation-Oh, keep reading, my friend. You'll see what happens soon enough. ;)**

**epicabsol-I don't know...I love him so much...you know what, just read the chapter. It will tell you all that you want to know...**

**Raccon Girl-I'm sorry that Black doesn't appear in this chapter, but she will be making an appearance soon! (And by that, I mean the next chapter, LOL.)**

**Princess LaLaBlue-I'm sorry for the wait. But good things come to those who wait, and I hope that this was worth the long while!**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-Ouch! Are you okay? LOL, I love getting attached to movie characters. I already have a list of the ones who will one day rule the world with me! And I love Turbo too much to think of him as a brother...he's like the evil bad boy that you can manipulate into loving you with a little hard work, LOL.**

**OriginalPrincess-Oh, don't worry about it. Thanks for mentioning it in this one, lol.**

Chapter Nineteen

"What are you doing here?" Lulu asked in a shrill whisper. "You're supposed to be dead! I saw you fly into that volcano!" At least, she thought she did. Could Turbo have steered out of harm's way at the very last minute? Or could he have regenerated?

"Are you disappointed or relieved?" The washed-up lunatic joked, pulling himself towards her. "You can still save me or kill me. Either one would be Turbo-tastic." She just stood there, gaping at him. He no longer resembled a monster or a monarch, and she hated herself for being attracted to him now. She groaned as she knelt down next to him.

"What's the problem? Why are you going to die?"

"Is that concern I hear, my sweet candy heart?" He mocked. She made puking noises at the nickname. Why was he trying to be like King Candy all of a sudden? Was it just to weird her out?

"Don't flatter yourself. I need to know what the problem is so that I can try to fix it."

"Because you can't resist me," he teased. "You want to get me back into perfect condition so that you can have me all to yourself."

"You are such an arrogant, two-faced, smug, narcissistic murderer!" She spat. "I don't like you at all," she added, lying to herself. "And I won't help you if you don't shut your pie-hole. But maybe Ralph can help? He's getting a lot better at fixing things, and you left a pretty big mess." That made him calm down, and she looked over him. There were no traces of him ever being King Candy or a part of a virus. "What do you remember?"

Turbo swallowed and glitched again, his pixels turning red. "I remember racing with Thruster and Thermo. And I remember that I looked out of the window and there was nobody there playing as me. They were all at this new game called Rocky Something-Or-Other. And then...I don't know, it's all kind of a blur after that. It's like I was sleeping, but I would wake up for brief periods of time in between." He blinked. "And now I'm here. I remember your name, and I know that you're the newest racer here in Sugar Rush. But how did I get here?" He snorted, then flinched as he glitched. "I don't know why I hurt so badly. Was I in an accident? Is that why I had to leave my own game?"

Lulu stared at him in shock. "You have to be joking," she said to him. He looked confused, and her eyes narrowed. "You don't remember taking over this game? You almost killed so many characters!"

He shook his head. "No. I do remember that. I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for you and those meddling kids, especially that bratty glitch! And I remember being heartbroken after you rejected my very generous proposal of marriage," he added, sounding as petulant as a child. She scowled at him.

"You tried to kill an innocent child, and you fail to understand the gravity of this situation," she scoffed. "I am never going to be the wife of a washed-up psycho like you." She softened. "Be lucky that you're alive. It's a miracle and an error in the programming that worked out in your favor."

"Be honest with me," he said, bracing for the worst. "Do you think that I will ever get to race again?" She blinked, unsure of what to say.

"I know that I can't tell any of the other kids that you're here," she replied. And this was the truth. But she couldn't keep this to herself, and there was only one who she knew could be trustworthy around the man that her friends were swearing revenge should they ever meet him upon. But would this person in mind be able to keep such a huge secret?

* * *

"Knuckles, you didn't have to be so harsh," Alicia chastised as they walked out of Pac-Man. After an interesting exchange of words and opinions, Knuckles had punched the life out of the therapist ghost. After he regenerated, he shooed his guests out, claiming that he had to prepare for Bad-Anon sessions. "Clyde was only trying to help!"

"I don't need help!" He shouted. "I need to die alone and without making even more trouble! How can the players forget my world if I remain? How can they forget...him? I am him!" He collapsed, crying again. She stared at him. He was nothing like Corrupted Sonic had been, and if he had been, she would not be in love with this version of Knuckles.

"No, you aren't," Alicia's voice cracked as she spoke. "If you were, you'd be happy. And you'd be killing your friends instead of looking out for them."

"Do you want for me to be killing them?" Knuckles gasped, pointing at Tails and the other two.

"No, no, you're taking this the wrong way," Alicia tried to explain. But then they engaged in a shouting match, right there in the middle of Game Central Station. It attracted a lot of stares from passers. And then, in the spur of the moment, without thinking, Alicia leaned in and kissed Knuckles on the mouth. He pulled away and stared at her, speechless. She had tears in her eyes.

"I love you, and that's why I want for you to live so badly," she cried before leaving him for the first time since rescuing him. She headed for Sugar Rush, intending to not leave the colorful candy land for quite some time.

* * *

Jenna was about to hunt for the children on the third floor, but a sneeze stopped her. When she turned, she found the people who she had been searching for. "Hey guys, how are you?" She greeted. The Koopalings and Bowser Jr. just stood and glared. And then Ludwig, the eldest, spoke.

"You're not my mother, so I don't have to listen to you. Just stay out of my way, and I'll go to bed whenever I feel like it." He stomped back down the hall and slammed the door to the room he entered.

"Ignore Ludwig," Wendy yawned. "He's just cranky because Daddy wouldn't take him to Tapper's tonight."

"Right," Morton said, dragging out the monosyllabic word as slowly as possible. "I have responsibilities, unlike some Koopas I know, so I think that I'll be going now." He started to walk in the general direction of the staircase. Bowser Junior's eyes widened, and he ran to his older stepbrother, wrapped his arms around his legs, and refused to let go.

"Who is going to protect me from Roy?" He sniveled. Morton groaned.

"You are such a baby!" He hissed, shaking his leg as he tried to force the youngest of Bowser's children off of him. "Grow up! And if you do require assistance, then go to Jenna!" And then he glared at Roy, the strongest Koopaling. "And I really don't want to have to put up with any of your antics tonight, big brother. Do you want to fight me? I don't think you do." With that, he huffed away. For the second youngest Koopaling, he sure seemed pretentious. Roy was stunned by this outburst, so he turned on Jenna.

"I can kick your butt with both of my eyes closed," Roy sneered.

"And I know you can," Jenna smiled. "But if you do, your father will want to know who was the one responsible for hurting me. And I wonder what he'll have to say to that unfortunate child..." Her voice trailed off.

"I'm going to bed," Roy pouted, strutting to his bedroom and locking the door after slamming it shut. He then turned up the music he was playing inside of his room all the way up.

"Do you want for me to paint your nails?" Wendy asked, looking hopeful. Jenna nodded, but Larry sighed.

"What am I supposed to do while you do GIRLY things?" He demanded, tapping his foot. The remaining children (Iggy and Lemmy) nodded in agreement.

"You three can go order a pizza," Jenna told them, and they perked up. "Why don't you go downstairs and wait for us, and then once our nails are dry, we can play a game or do something really fun that you want to do?" The boys nodded in agreement before dashing off. Wendy watched them in amusement.

"Silly boys," she chuckled. She grabbed Jenna's hand. "C'mon, let's go in my room." She pulled her new babysitter into the last room down the hall and to the right. The décor was terrible to behold. The pinkness of it all was blinding and just nauseating. And Jenna hated having her nails painted in these shades of the color she despised the most, but was too awestruck by being in the company of the children to say anything.

"Tell me about your mother," Jenna suggested, blowing on her nails. Wendy smiled.

"My mommy was really pretty, but I think that you are, too. She met Daddy in Game Central and died while she was in another game. And then Daddy married Beth a while ago, and one day she just disappeared." Wendy became quiet. "Are you going to marry Daddy?"

"I don't know yet," Jenna said, deciding to be serious. "I don't know if he likes me in that way." Wendy grinned.

"Are you kidding? Daddy really likes you! That's why he wanted for us to follow you and make sure that you were safe! He also wanted to know what you liked. He's always trying to impress others," she winked.

"This isn't some kind of joke, right?" Jenna asked. Wendy's eyes widened.

"No! I wouldn't make something like that up! Why would you think that?"

"Some of your brothers didn't seem too comfortable around me, and I didn't know if they put you up to something mean or stupid..."

Wendy shook her head. "No, they wouldn't do anything like that. Well, maybe Roy would. But if he told me to, I wouldn't do it. Because then I'd tell Morton, and then he'd make sure that Roy wouldn't even think about doing something like that ever again! He's Daddy's favorite, you know," she rolled her eyes. "Anyway, the boys are waiting for us, remember?" She stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "You ready to play with them?" Jenna laughed.

"Bring it on!"

* * *

_Review, please! :)_


	20. Chapter 20

**Raccon Girl-And you, my friend, would be correct! ;) Thanks for reviewing!**

**Princess LalaBlue-I'll say! LOL! Yes, love is in bloom, and it could be better with me and Turbo, and even Jenna has a little bit of work to do before she can officially start courting Bowser...**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-Hey, HANDS OFF of the love of my life! *snatches Turbo back* HE'S MINE! And wow, I haven't heard of those books! Should I check them out? Anyway, thanks for reading! You rock!**

**Ashuradehedgehog-In real life? Wow...and I haven't played that Sonic game yet, lol.**

Chapter Twenty

Lulu found the Sugar Rush racers, including a glum Alicia, ready for the next race, and she hurried to join them. Vanellope was kind enough to let Alicia join in late, and she had parked the Candy Kart next to Alicia. But the princess-president was not inside. She was up on the podium, preparing to give a few words of encouragement before letting the race begin. Lulu parked on the other side of her friend and saw that Alicia was staring off into space, gripping the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles were turning white.

Knuckles...

"Alicia, what happened to Knuckles?" Lulu asked, leaning over to talk to her fellow racer. Alicia took a deep breath and filled her in. By the time she was finished, Lulu's mouth was hanging wide open. "You kissed him and then walked away? Why?"

"I got nervous!" Alicia blushed. "And I don't know how he feels about me." She slumped over in her seat. "I probably shouldn't have done that. He's still...recovering. I must have upset him a little."

"Attention, citizens of Sugar Rush," the bored voice of Sour Bill mumbled. "All hail your rightful ruler, President Vanellope. And please join us in giving a warm welcome to our honored visitors from the Sonic series: Knuckles, Amy, Tails, and Cream." Alicia's eyes widened. She quickly scanned the faces in the crowds of candy and located the ones that weren't like the others. Knuckles stood out like a sore thumb, and he was looking right at her, a tiny smile on his face. Her heart dropped into her stomach, and her palms began to feel sweaty. Alicia was suddenly determined to win the race for him, and she didn't know what that would accomplish. She didn't have time to think about it. The race had started!

* * *

"Black, I need for you to do something for me, and it's going to sound crazy, but you're going to have to do it!" Lulu shouted, talking to Black through their radio system. They hadn't even made it to the top of the cake stage, and Lulu knew that this was probably the best place for her to stop and explain the plan. The other racers would be way ahead of them or already out of the contest, giving them just the right amount of privacy. And she had stayed close to Black ever since they left the starting line, making sure that they wouldn't be too far apart.

"Um, okay," Black replied, her voice sounding crackled and unsure. "What is it?"

"I need for you to not win this race!"

"Are you crazy?" Black shouted back. "I still need to beat Taffyta! What could possibly be more important than winning the race?"

"Pull over and I'll tell you," Lulu ordered, slowing down so that the children could pass her and not see her anymore. Black groaned, but did what was asked of her. She stood by the karts and scowled at Lulu, who blurted the truth out. "Turbo is alive! And he's in the mountains! I'm going to fix him...he's hurt...and he might be a glitch, but I don't know for sure, and I don't want any of the others to know about this yet! And you need to lose so that you can help watch over him!" The dark-haired girl gaped at the teenage racer, refusing to believe a word of it. Lulu explained it in more detail, and then Black came to terms with it. "But you can't tell anyone that he's here, not even Vanellope!"

"Why not?" Black demanded. "We're all friends now, right? Friends shouldn't have to keep secrets from each other!"

"I think we need to in this case," Lulu said. "You remember how angry Taffyta was, right? We don't want for Turbo to get any more damage done to his program now." Black nodded her reluctant agreement, seeing the logic and reasoning. "Come on," Lulu urged, revving up the Galaxy Glazer. "We need to get back to the finish line before they start to worry."

* * *

The winning avatars were: Vanellope, Adorabeezle, Gloyd, Crumbelina, Snowanna, The Swizz, Jubileena, Alicia, and Candlehead. And after Alicia claimed her gold coin, she caught up with the Sonic crew. "That was great!" Cream congratulated. This was the first time she had spoken in a long time, but Alicia was looking at Knuckles. He was blushing, and it was hard to see that he was due to the color of his skin.

"You were really amazing out there," he said at last, daring to make eye contact. "And I'm sorry if I can't live up to your expectations. You're way too perfect for me, and you need someone who can make you happy, not me."

"But you're the only one who can make me happy," she insisted, stepping closer. Amy giggled, Cream blushed, and Tails looked very uncomfortable. This was making Alicia feel excited. For once, these characters were acting as they should, not as they had been inside of Sonic dot exe! "And if you want for me to be happy, then you know what you have to do," she hinted, trying a coy approach.

Knuckles smirked, and it wasn't a sarcastic or bitter look. It was his trademark, one-of-a-kind Knuckles grin. "I guess you're right," he chuckled, placing his lips on hers...

* * *

After congratulating the winners on a great race, Black and Lulu had headed for the junkyard for some secrecy. But their privacy didn't last for very long. "Hey, Black, was everything okay back there?" Adorabeezle, Crumbelina, and Gloyd were by their side in an instant, their faces showing sincere concern. "We couldn't figure out what happened!" Crumbelina continued, frowning. "Did your kart break down?" Lulu resisted the urge to snap at them. She knew that all of the citizens and racers had been reset to their original sweet selves, but still...she felt a twinge of fury when she remembered what happened the last time they were in the junkyard talking about karts.

"No, no, it wasn't anything like that," Black reassured them, giving a fake smile. "I just...had a flat tire. Lulu stopped to help, and that's what slowed us down."

"Okay, good," Gloyd smiled. "Hey, do you want to hang out with us later? We're going to go ice skating in the Frozen Yogurt Falls! You can come, too, Lulu!" He added. Adorabeezle smirked, knowing that Gloyd was trying his hardest to get Black's affections.

"That would be awesome!" Black said, her fake grin becoming a real one. "You guys go ahead, though. Lulu and I will catch up after we get the flat tire taken care of." Her three friends nodded and drove off. Black watched them leave and waved. But once she was alone with Lulu, she became sulky again. "Fine," she grumbled. "I won't tell Vanellope." She glared at her shoe. "But I still think that she should know about it."

"We're going to tell her eventually," Lulu promised. "We just need to make sure that we can still trust Turbo...that he won't try to kill us or take over Sugar Rush again."

"I don't think he will," Black announced. "I can feel it in my code! There still is some good in him!"

"Your code better be right," Lulu sighed. "Come on, let's go see him." And they drove off to their old home.

* * *

Jenna tried her hardest not to cry when she left Mario. But the arcade was going to be open to the public soon, and she had to leave. The children that had spent time with her begged her to return soon, and she promised that she would be back after gaming hours. "No, Daddy, we're not kidding. She was the best sitter ever!" She could hear Wendy insisting. Jenna smiled in triumph. She was making progress.

But it still wasn't good enough, and she wanted things to progress more smoothly. "Litwak's opening the doors in twenty minutes," one of the Mortal Kombat fighters shouted out in Game Central. "We best get a move on!" But Jenna frowned. Twenty minutes...that would give her just enough time to do what she wanted to do. She turned on her heel and headed in a different direction.

Instead of going to Sugar Rush, she went back to Portal.

* * *

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	21. Chapter 21

**Raccon Girl-Of course! I'll send you a PM immediately. But thank you for letting me know.**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-How about you stick to one form during the reviews, okay? It can get a little confusing, lol. And I'm sorry that you can't hug your kitty. :(**

**Nicky0-I'm glad you think so, dude. ;) Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Princess LalaBlue-Hey! What's THAT supposed to mean? Do not insult my Turbo! *huggles him* And don't worry, Jenna will be together with Bowser forever...but first, she must do that thing in the place that you will have to read all about. LOL**

Chapter Twenty-One

Jenna entered the Portal game and almost ran into one of the toughest female characters in gaming history. Chell, the mute star of the show, was a tall brunette in a modest jumpsuit. Her eyes narrowed when she recognized Jenna. "Hey," the Sugar Rush racer greeted. "Is Wheatley here? I wanted to ask him a few questions." Chell didn't acknowledge her in the slightest. "Are you mad at me because I snapped at GLaDOS?" Jenna wondered. Chell's eyes softened, and Jenna interpreted this as a "yes". "I'm really sorry," she mumbled. "It's just...you don't know what it was like in there. And I hope that you never will. And I got angry at GLaDOS because of her excuse. I hope that you two will forgive me. And if Wheatley is angry, too, then I'm sorry." Chell smiled and led Jenna to another part of the game. But it wasn't an unfamiliar place. In fact, it was the same room in which Jenna laid eyes upon the horrors of Sonic dot exe and MARIO. Wheatley was there, downloading more information into his memory banks.

"What do you want?" He snapped when he saw Jenna. "I may be your friend now, but that was very rude. What you did to GLaDOS, I mean. You really shouldn't have done that."

"I'm just here to apologize," Jenna said meekly.

"GLaDOS isn't here," Wheatley huffed. "And I don't think that she'll want to talk to you when she gets back. But is there anything else I can help you with before I throw you out?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, there is," Jenna announced, stepping closer to the computer. This was the real reason for why she was here. "I wanted to know..." She hesitated. Part of her felt dirty for doing this. She didn't like snoops. But at the same time, she really wanted to know more about Bowser's wives. She HAD to know. "Does any footage exist of Bowser's wives?"

"None whatsoever," Wheatley said without even consulting the computer. "You're not the first one to have asked, but you might be the first character to wonder. But no, there's nothing about any Koopa Queen. The backstory of the Koopalings and their step-brother are all programmed into their memory codes."

"Oh," Jenna said simply. She felt relieved for many reasons. First, she wasn't being nosy if she was wondering about a mystery of gaming. Second, the female Koopas couldn't show up and take Bowser away from her! She would have done a dance of joy around Portal if Chell and the robot minions hadn't dragged her back to Game Central...

Did they always have to spoil her moments?

* * *

"Wow," Black said for the millionth time in a row. "Oh, wow. I can't believe it. This is unbelievable!" She stared at Turbo. "He's exactly the way he looked in that portrait."

"Is he a glitch?" Lulu asked, trying to take the focus away from him. He was enjoying the limelight again, even if it was because he was in a serious predicament.

"No, he isn't," Black gave her diagnosis. "And if he was in his own game, he'd probably be racing again. But he can't here, not without a coin, and not without a car." She shrugged her shoulders before turning to Turbo. "I would give you both of these things, but the rules say that I can't do it." There was no malice in her voice.

"Forget the rules!" Turbo pleaded. "I'll pay you back after I win a few races!"

"You really were a stickler for the rules when things were going your way," Lulu said, examining her cuticles.

"That was King Candy talking, not me!" Turbo insisted.

"Oh, is that right? Who was the one who proposed to me?" Turbo's mouth moved, forming words, but no sound escaped his lips. Lulu smirked. "Cat got your tongue, King Turbo?"

"I did like the sound of that," the former racer sighed, leaning back. "I wanted to keep my name when I took over, but there'd be no point. Somebody would have discovered me sooner or later. Because I am such a loser, right?" He glared at Lulu, who continued to smile.

"At least you're being honest with yourself," she remarked. Turbo's glare grew more sinister.

"Stop fighting, guys," Black warned, pulling Lulu into another part of the ruins. Once they were out of earshot, she told her about more observations that she made. "He's scared to death. I feel so sorry for him," she whispered. "And I don't want to leave him." She put her hands on her hips. "Can I trust you to be alone with him for even a few minutes?" She asked. She was dripping with exasperation.

"Look, go have fun and play with the others," Lulu urged, giving Black a playful push towards the exit. "Tell them that I had to repair a few small things with my car. Try to relax and make new friends. I'll see you later." Black pouted, but left when Lulu reminded her that she had promised Gloyd. So Lulu was alone with Turbo. They sat in silence for a while. "What was it like in your old game?" She asked after a while.

He closed his eyes. "Perfect," he said. "It was perfect. There was a gorgeous race track in the middle of it all, and every day I would go down and challenge Thermo and Thruster to a few practice laps. They'd always win, no matter how hard I tried to beat them."

"You never won against them?" She scoffed. "Yeah, right. I thought you had a collection of trophies."

"I could only win if someone else was controlling me," he confessed, turning onto his side so that he faced away from her. "That's why I loved winning so badly." He began to flinch and glitch. "And when the new game was plugged in, nobody would play as me for three whole days in a row. That's why I had to leave. I couldn't stop winning." He sat up and hugged his knees to his chest. Turbo the Terrific looked so vulnerable. "I've never told anyone that," he said to Lulu, scorn seeping into his tone. "And I don't want this to get out. Got it?"

She thought about it for a minute. "If you can be honest with yourself and with me, then I'll be honest with you. So I won't tell anyone," she promised. He sighed. "But there is more to life than winning," she reminded him. "I know that it sounds corny, but it's the truth."

* * *

Vanellope had wanted for the homeless Sega characters to stay in her game, but Cream didn't want to impose or take advantage of them. So Vanellope told them to find "old Stink-Brain" and ask him if he knew what to do. Now the group was outside of Sugar Rush, asking various people if they had happened to see the wrecker. Alicia and Knuckles were now holding hands, and those who noticed this smiled or stared. Knuckles only let go when they found Ralph in Tapper's. "Hey, hey Ralph, can I talk to you?" Alicia called, walking over. She was relieved to see that Sonic and Mario weren't there. But Ralph looked happy to see her.

"Alicia, right?" He waved. "What's up?" Tapper's was having a slow night, or so it seemed. There were plenty of chairs for the group to take, and they all sat down next to Ralph. And Alicia explained what their next problem was.

"Vanellope told me that you might know what to do," she finished, wiping her mouth with a napkin. Ralph frowned as he thought.

"I do know a lot of characters that had to leave their homes behind," he admitted. "You've seen Q*Bert, I'm guessing. But it's not like I can just build them a home in the middle of Game Central. That's something that Felix would do." His eyes suddenly lit up. "That's it! Alicia, you're a genius!" Amy, Cream, and Knuckles leaned in, ready to hear the brilliant plan. Tails tapped his fingers on the counter, frowning.

"What? What did I do?" Alicia asked.

"You said it yourself," Ralph explained. "We can't build them a home in the station, but we can make room in my game! And Felix can make the new buildings himself!"

"But won't it get crowded?" Cream wondered. "We wouldn't want to make things cramped..."

"Oh, we're already cramped!" Ralph laughed. "The whole game is basically a building and a pile of bricks! We need to expand, and you guys are perfect for helping us with that." He finished his drink with a smile. "I'll tell everyone about it during the wedding!"

"Wedding? What wedding?" Amy asked, perking up. Alicia rolled her eyes but smiled. Amy was always thinking about weddings...especially ones that involved her as the bride and Sonic as the groom. Although Alicia doubted that Amy's feelings for the blue hero survived...

"Didn't you hear? Felix and Calhoun are getting married tomorrow! Everyone in the arcade is going to be there!"

* * *

_I am so sorry that I didn't update for the past few days. A lot of crap has been happening, but I think that the worst of it is going to be over. Thank you all for being patient with me._

_Black Licoricetwist belongs to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	22. Chapter 22

**Ashuradehedgehog-Oh, you caught the reference! Good for you. And I love your names for the pairings! And OMG, I would love to play Turbotime in real life! I'm going to beg Disney!**

**Dalek-Oh, my gosh, I am SO SO SO sorry. I think it's because your reviews come pretty late, but I digress. You're not mad, are you?**

**EpicDjKitty-Here you go! Your wish is my command! ;)**

**Raccon Girl-I know, right? It's kind of cute!**

**Princess LalaBlue-I know! And yes, here is the wedding chapter! Thanks for reviewing!**

**AnonymousZGirl-Hey, don't worry about them. We're all cool now. (Cool as ice, lol...okay, that was a really really weak attempt at a pun, I'm sorry.)**

Chapter Twenty-Two

The wedding was probably one of the biggest in gaming history: the first marriage between characters of different games! The bride was beautiful and groom and grinning from ear to ear. The maid of honor was none other than Vanellope, and she had been persuaded by a few of her new friends to wear her old dress. "I'm not going to wear this thing ever again!" She had whined, standing in her throne room before the event. Taffyta smiled.

"We all have to wear dresses, too," she reminded the president. "Some of us wear them every day!"

"I could change that if I wanted to," Vanellope said, ruffling some of the lace on her gown.

"How?" Lulu asked, folding her arms.

"The code room, silly head," Vanellope chuckled, and everyone's eyes widened. "I could go in, mess with the codes a teensy-weensy little bit, and voila! I mean, what could go wrong?" With that, she ordered Sour Bill to take her into the code room so that she could look at the main data. Everyone stood by the entrance of the room and watched their new president float amongst boxes with the names of every character in Sugar Rush written on them. She had a rope of licorice wrapped around her waist, and Black was holding onto her for safety. "Hey, what's this for?" Vanellope asked. "There's a name for another racer, but I've never heard of him!" Black's eyes lit up.

"That would be my brother," she announced. "Red Licoricetwist. He's a locked racer. The problem is that nobody could ever unlock him because his stage was never completed." Lulu knew that she meant the one in the Diet Cola Mountain.

"Why didn't you tell me about him before?" Vanellope demanded, fake-scowling at Black over her shoulder.

"You never asked," Black shrugged.

"I don't think that excuse really works anymore," Rancis pointed out. "But come on, Vanellope is right! We can unlock your brother and make him an official racer now, right? Nobody will have to reach him!"

Now Red was at the wedding reception, talking to some of the other racers. Compared to his twin sister, he was a little dorky, but that only added to his uniqueness. Whenever he spoke to Taffyta, his face turned cherry red. "While I was in there, I found some secret minigame stuff," Vanellope was saying.

"Like what?" The Swizz asked. "More kart building activities?"

"No, but you were on the right track," Vanellope smiled. "There's a thing in there that lets you create your own original racer! If you can beat the highest score in the game's records, then you can make an avatar that can become a permanent addition to the Sugar Rush racing selection!"

"Maybe Mutahar will win and create one of his own," Jubileena sighed. As the other racers started to tease her on her little crush, Lulu saw the opportunity she had been waiting for. And it got even better: a loud song started playing, and the guys were grabbing girls and dragging them onto the dance floor. Vanellope had paired up with Rancis and was already dancing to her heart's content. And Black was with the round-faced Gloyd. Lulu knew that Black would be reluctant to stop having fun, so it was up to her to leave the party early.

"Hey, Black, I'm going back to check on something," she said, having to shout to be heard over the noise. _Translation: I'm going back to check on Turbo_. Black understood this and nodded, content with having another dance with the sweet Gloyd.

As she left the beautiful church of Hero's Duty for the empty Game Central Station, she heard some of the characters from one of the Mortal Kombat games discussing the arrival of a new game. This caught her interest. Was she not the new diplomat to Sugar Rush? And with her new job came new duties, such as visiting new games. _I'll visit Turbo for a little while_, she decided, heading for Sugar Rush. _But I have to see what this new game is going to be like!_

* * *

Jenna hated playing the role of the wallflower, but she felt uncomfortable at this party. She didn't know the people from Fix-It Felix Junior or Hero's Duty that well, and she was still unsure of how to feel about the Sugar Rush racers. Most of Bowser's children hated her, or so she thought, and she saw that one of the few that liked her was dancing with his arms around the posh Crumbelina diCaramello. She was busy watching the two of them and didn't notice that the King of Koopas had joined her in awkward silence. When she did realize he was standing next to her, she didn't know what to say. "Pretty fancy wedding," she mumbled.

"Uh-huh," he muttered in agreement. There was a brief pause before he cleared his throat. "Do you want to get out of here?" Jenna stared at him, trying to determine if he was being serious.

"Won't your kids miss you?"

"Lemmy won't," he joked, watching his second oldest child dance with Crumbelina. "Come on," he encouraged, taking her hand in his. His scaly skin was rather soft and warm, not rough and cool like one would think a reptile's flesh would be. "I haven't been in Sugar Rush at all! Show me around. We'll take the clown head."

"Say no more," Jenna interrupted, going with him without another thought.

* * *

Alicia and Knuckles were standing by the punch bowl with the best man and some of the Nicelanders, talking about the plans for expansion of Fix-It Felix Junior. From here, Alicia got a clear view of the party. Amy and Cream were talking to the bride, offering sincere congratulations. The brilliant Tails was dancing, staring with wonder into the eyes of the ditzy Candlehead. Alicia shook her head. What could he ever see in her?

"So it's settled, then," Ralph said with finality. "We can start the construction tomorrow once the arcade closes. And as soon as the first building is put up, you can move in," he said to Knuckles.

"Oh, we're really in no hurry," he replied, giving Alicia's hand a quick squeeze. She blushed. He was so sweet.

"And I was also thinking," Ralph continued. "How about if you guys work in our game, too? Like, you can help Felix fix the damage I make, or you can wreck the buildings. I'm sure that the players wouldn't mind seeing a few familiar faces."

"That's a tempting offer, Ralph, but I think that I'm going to stay in Sugar Rush," Knuckles said. "The players saw me, Tails, and the girls sitting in the audience, and I think that they liked it."

"Suit yourself," Ralph shrugged, but he had a knowing twinkle in his eyes.

* * *

Black and Lulu had decided to test Turbo by leaving him alone in the Diet Cola Ruins while they attended the big ceremony. He hadn't moved an inch since they left him, and this pleased Lulu for some reason. She knelt down next to him. "I'm going to visit the new game," she announced, feeling his forehead. "You feel cool," she remarked.

"That's because I am cool," Turbo boasted. She rolled her eyes and groaned.

"You're so cold," she corrected her own words, resting her palm on his skin again. He had a wonderful forehead that was so high. And his skin was so smooth.

"So is my heart," he chuckled. "I don't care about anything but winning, winning, and me!"

"Keep telling yourself that, but you'll never have me convinced," she whispered. And then she did something that surprised them both when she leaned down and pressed her lips against his. She left them there for a few more seconds before pulling away. Turbo the Fantastic was shocked. She blushed and stroked the skin on his smooth cheeks. "I'll be back soon," she promised, getting to her feet and walking away, unaware of the dangers that were in store for her...

* * *

_Attention, everyone! Are you ready for this? Sonic dot exe: VERSION 5 has been released! I repeat, Sonic dot exe, Version 5 has been released! And yes, it will be appearing in this story later, along with MARIO. (Oops, spoiler alert!)_

_But first...let's have a big round of applause for BEN, ladies and gentlemen! *applause* He is going to bring so much to this story!_

_Black and Red Licoricetwist belong to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	23. Chapter 23

**Ashuradehedgehog-I LOVE your name for the Jubileena and Mutahar pairing! Love it love it love it! Also, I don't think that the time paradox thing is going to happen, so you don't have to worry about it. And as for the other characters and the high score stuff...well, you'll just have to wait and see! ;)**

**epicabsol-Um, sort of...why don't you tell me about what...or who...you had in mind, and then we'll see if he or she can be placed into the story.**

**Dalek-To be honest, I was a little fed up with the Doctor Who references, but since you stopped using them, we're cool. There's no reason for me to be mad, lol. And yes, I am going to be using your OC, but it'll be a little while before she appears. Good things come to those who wait! ;) Oh, by the way, thank you for that nice review you wrote on my one-shot for Disney. It was very sweet. :)**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-Well, the characters aren't going to have a little peace and quiet for very much longer. *glares at BEN* Why must you ruin everything? LOL, I'm just kidding. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Princess LalaBlue-Hey, she's a character, not a player. (LOL, bad pun alert!) And WARNING: this chapter has the first signs of the impending danger! BEWARE!**

**EpicDjKitty-Thank you! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Nicky0-I'm guessing you liked the new chapter? LOL**

**Raccon Girl-I'm glad you liked it! And yes, Red will be making more appearances in this story from now on.**

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lulu entered the game and smiled, an ocean of feelings flowing through her. Mario and Sonic were two of her all-time video game characters, but Link and Zelda created mixed reactions from her. She had played only one Legend of Zelda game for the Wii, and it had been too time-consuming for her and her younger brother to complete. But these games held a special place in her heart. Twilight Princess had been her first T-rated video game, after all.

But this was one of the older Zelda game, so everything appeared more cartoonish. This included the protagonist, who had spotted Lulu from a distance. She had to squint to see him; the sun was so bright. And when her eyes adjusted, she could see that she was standing in a virtual paradise. There was nothing but sunny skies and green grass as far as she could see. And Link ran towards her, one arm on his hat, the other on his weapon. "Do you want to come with me to meet my best friend?" He asked, not bothering with the introductions. (Then again, they weren't really needed.)

"I'd love to," Lulu said, and this was the truth. She was thinking that his friend was Princess Zelda or Epona the horse. Link offered her his hand, which she held on to. With the blink of an eye, the scene around them changed. They were in a bigger part of the world now. The grass was still the same, but there were mountains and buildings. Link walked away from both and into the fields with Lulu still holding his small hand. They came across three figures, two of which were familiar. One was Epona, Link's beautiful mare. The other was the scary Happy Mask Salesman, who watched Link with incredible intensity. But standing next to them was a stranger.

"This is my best friend, BEN," Link announced, releasing Lulu's hand from his. "We do everything together, but he has been getting lonely."

BEN was a small boy with a striking resemblance to Link. His color scheme was a little brighter and his hair was a pale blonde, but aside from that, they could have been twin brothers. He was smiling, but it was a very peculiar smirk. He wasn't gloating or celebrating. It was almost a contemplative look, and it was a little disturbing. (But not as much as that Happy Mask Salesperson.)

"Will you be my new best friend and stay with me forever?" He asked Lulu, continuing to smile.

"I'd love to be your friend," she replied, managing a toothy grin. "But I have to get back to my own game now. One of my other friends isn't feeling too well. But you should come back with me some other time! There are others like me for you to play with."

"But it's so scary out there," he whined.

"I can bring them over here," she offered, weary of his expression. He was starting to creep her out. "And we can all play tomorrow, okay?" BEN teleported from standing in front of her to being behind her, stopping her from backing away. "Don't do that!" She yelped, startled. Last time she checked, none of the Zelda characters could teleport, at least not the way that this boy was. He would dissolve into a cloud of green sparkles and reappear elsewhere. He looked one hundred percent evil.

"But what if none of them will come?" He asked.

"I will come," she promised, her voice raised.

BEN paused, his eyes looking into the distance, and Lulu took that to mean that the conversation was over. She started to walk away, but he blocked her with yet another teleportation spell. "I can trust you to come back tomorrow, but how will I know that you'll keep coming back?"

"You'll just have to trust me," she hissed. "But I have to go now." She stepped around him before sprinting in what she thought was the direction of Game Central. Lulu was usually an honest person, but she was not planning on coming back to see this creep.

BEN could see right through her. "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" The Song of Healing was playing on the soundtrack, but it was distorted and backwards. As the music grew louder, Link burst into flames, screaming and collapsing near the Happy Mask Man. Lulu's eyes widened, and she cursed herself for not putting two and two together sooner.

_She was in the Haunted Majora's Mask with the ghost of a little boy who had drowned._

* * *

Alicia and Knuckles had slipped away to Sugar Rush for a little experiment down by the race tracks. They wanted to see if Knuckles was faster on foot than Alicia was in the Scarlet Streaker. They both knew that Sonic could beat them both with his hands tied behind his back and his eyes closed, but they weren't in the mood to talk to anyone or anything that looked like the blue hedgehog. It had been an interesting race, and it was too close for them to tell who the winner was. Now they were sitting by the side of the track, arms around each other, just talking. "Isn't this exciting?" Alicia said after a while. "You're going to get to be in a real game!"

"Yeah," Knuckles said, twiddling his thumbs. "But I don't want for You-Know-Who to show up and hurt you or Tails, Amy, or Cream."

"I don't think that it's going to happen," Alicia promised him.

"But what if it does?" He demanded, standing up. He cracked his knuckles. "What if Litwak reinstalls the game software into the computer section and we have to go back?"

"Why would you want to go back to him?" Alicia asked. "And why in the world would Litwak want to install something that he thinks is a Trojan Horse?" Knuckles contemplated this for a few seconds before sitting back down and scooting closer to Alicia. He put his head in her lap, and she began to run her fingers through his dreadlocks. "Just relax," she cooed. "I'll take care of you and the others." He sighed in content, closing his beautiful eyes as he calmed down...

"Hey, enough chit-chat!" A boyish call startled the two and ruining the moment. Knuckles glared at the source: a boy wearing a red jacket and red pants (both with black trimmings), a red and black striped shirt, and red shoes. He had red hair and gray eyes. At first, Knuckles continued to look angry. But then, his look changed to one of surprise. "There's two of you?" He gasped, looking at the boy and then at Alicia. The boy rolled his eyes.

"If you mean to say that there are multiple racers with a licorice theme, then yes, there are. I'm Red Licoricetwist. I think you know my sister pretty well," he said to Alicia, who nodded. "Speaking of Black, she wants to talk to you. Can you come with me to meet her now?"

"Right now?" Alicia repeated, not wanting to leave Knuckles.

"Yes, right now," Red insisted. "It's kind of important. And we can't find Lulu Smarties-Pants anywhere. Have you seen her?"

"Not since after the wedding," Alicia recalled. "And we left early." She looked at Knuckles. "Do you mind? We can meet up later."

"Consider it a date," Knuckles grinned. Alicia blushed, and Red groaned as he tapped his foot.

"Okay, I'm coming, I'm coming!" Alicia cried, starting up the Scarlet Streaker and joining Red on the road. "Where did you come from? And why do you also have a licorice theme? Won't it get redundant for the players if we have three characters with the same candy basis?"

"If Minty Zaki can have two identical racers with different color schemes and a Japanese design, then we can have three racers with licorice themes," he snorted. "And in answer to your first question, I was recently unlocked by Vanellope. But that's not important right now. Come on. Black is looking for Jenna, and we have to go to the Diet Cola Mountain ASAP!"

"But I thought that it was destroyed," Alicia said. "Did it rebuild itself when the rest of the game restarted?"

"It's a long story," Red smirked, egging his car (the Drift Twist) on in the direction of the mountain. "But it isn't the mountain that's important. It's who we have waiting there for us." Alicia hoped that he wasn't deliberately being cryptic. After all of the buildup for Sonic dot exe and MARIO, she wasn't looking forward to anymore horrifying payoffs.

* * *

_Black and Red Licoricetwist belong to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	24. Chapter 24

**Deathstroke Terminator-Be careful! I hope that it didn't scar any of your friends for life, lol. Anyway, thanks for reviewing! It means a lot to me!**

**Princess LalaBlue-Here you go! :)**

**epicabsol-Yes, I am. Send me a PM with a description of the OC if you want.**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-Sure! Send me a description of the OC in a PM, and I'll see if I can fit him or her into the story. And lol, be careful on the wiki. Some of the stuff there is pretty creepy.**

**Ashuradehedgehog-Your review made me crack up! And I agree: it sounds like something Yoda would say, doesn't it?**

**EpicDjKitty-You are right about every one of those pairings!**

**Raccon Girl-LOL. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Dalek-The link didn't quite work. Try again? Do you have a deviantart account? You can send me a better description from there.**

Chapter Twenty-Four

The view of Sugar Rush from a flying clown head was more romantic than one would think it to be. "It's a lovely night," Jenna sighed, resting her cheek in her hand.

"Even though it's sunny out?" King Koopa joked. "Does it ever get dark here?"

"I doubt it," Jenna shrugged. "Otherwise we wouldn't have any time for racing. It doesn't matter, though. I suck at these races." She laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous," Bowser chuckled, stepping closer to her. "I bet you could be great at anything that you wanted to be." And then, before Jenna could blush at the compliment, he wrapped her in his wonderful arms and kissed her on the lips. Jenna's eyes widened, but then she closed them, kissing him back. This was the best part of her experience as a video game character, even better than the time that he rescued her from MARIO, even better than hanging out with Wendy and the other Koopa kids...

And then he was the one that pulled away, his face a dark shade of purple. "I shouldn't have done that," Bowser grumbled.

Jenna was shocked and hurt, but she did her best not to show it. "It's my fault," she mumbled. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey, are you two love-birds up there?" Jenna and Bowser looked down to see Black standing beneath them, looking up. "Jenna, can you come with me? I want to show you something!" Jenna would have been furious if the moment had been ruined by the red-eyed racer...but then again, the moment was spoiled before she even arrived. She sighed.

"I think that I should go now," she told Bowser, who nodded and began to lower the clown head to the ground. The whole time, she was confused about what had just happened.

* * *

When the girls arrived at the remains of Diet Cola Mountain, a new kart was parked outside of the entrance to the springs. "That's my brother's car, the Drift Twist," Black explained. "You'll meet him in a second!" Jenna parked the Rocky Roadster by this kart and told Black to go inside without her. She needed a moment to gather her thoughts. She now understood why Bowser had rejected her, but it didn't make her feel any better. Calhoun had suffered from the programmed memories of her first lover, some soldier that died on their wedding day. Bowser must have been going through the same thing. Only he had been a widower once. Whatever happened to his second wife was still scarring him. Jenna cursed and slammed her fist on the hood of her car. Why did those dumb programmers from the 80's have to ruin everything for her now? Her train of thought crashed when cries of alarm came from inside the ruins. She went to see what the commotion was about, but didn't reveal herself to the others when she heard whispers.

"Look, we've been really patient with you," Black was saying. "And if you tell us now, then I promise you that we won't be angry."

"My sister has trusted you with EVERYTHING!" An unfamiliar boy's voice screamed. Jenna assumed that this was the brother of Black. "How can we trust you now? How do we know that you haven't gone ahead and deleted her code?"

"Red, how could he have gotten to the code room in the palace?" Black brought up. Jenna was unable to take it anymore and stepped further into the ruins to see that a glitching Turbo was lying on the ground. Red was glaring down at him, and Black was frowning, too, but she seemed more willing to understand him. Alicia was also there, just watching the whole scene unfold in silence.

"What the fudge is going on?" Jenna demanded, and everyone turned to look at her. And then the Licoricetwist siblings looked at each other.

"You explain," Black said to her brother, sitting down on the ground and crossing her legs.

* * *

As they expected, the Sugar Rush racers were outraged when their former king appeared at the palace. But with a little help from Black, Vanellope was persuaded to listen to Turbo. He explained what was happening. "I think that Lulu is in some sort of trouble in another Trojan game."

"Is it one of yours?" Vanellope asked. They were in the throne room, and Vanellope was sitting in the grand chair, drumming her fingers on the armrest as the criminal spoke.

"No. I only made two: MARIO and Sonic dot exe." With a little more persuasion and deliberation, Vanellope had Sour Bill summon the Sugar Rush racers for an informal meeting. They all met in the castle dining room and sat around the not-very-round table.

"Okay, the meeting is now in session," Vanellope announced from the head of the table once everyone was present. "Let's review the facts. Our good friend and guardian, Lulu Smarties-Pants, is in potential danger in a new game. It is up to us to retrieve her and bring her back home before the arcade reopens."

"We could be jumping to conclusions," Swizzle interrupted. "She could just be running late. Maybe the guys in the other game are a lot of fun to hang out with, and she doesn't want to leave them to be with a bunch of losers like us." It was obvious that he was kidding, so a lot of the other children giggled.

"Lulu's never late for something as important as our game, not if she can help it," Jenna said.

"All in favor of the rescue mission, please stand up." Vanellope, Black, Red, Jenna, Alicia, Candlehead, Rancis, Gloyd, and Jubileena got to their feet. Those who didn't join them just stayed in their seats and continued to glare at Turbo.

"I still think that we can't trust him," Minty said. "And I am not going to forgive him." She stood. "But I'm going to save Lulu. And if something bad happens to any of us, we'll know who to blame."

"Good for you, Tootsy, because I'm not here for you to absolve or chastise me," Turbo snapped.

"Her name is Minty," Snowanna shot back. "And she doesn't want to be near you. None of us do!" She groaned. "But if she's going to go, then I'll go, too." She walked over to be with her best friend. They high-fived each other and smiled at the other volunteers.

"Maybe some of us should stay behind?" Adorabeezle suggested.

"Are you scared?" Crumbelina teased.

"I'm not!" The wintery girl hissed. "But I think that it would be a good idea if we have some people stay here in case Lulu comes back. Also, maybe we should have some...extra security here?"

Taffyta smiled. "I'll volunteer for that," she offered, smirking at Turbo. "Nothing is going to get past us this time, old man."

"Let's do this!" Vanellope shouted, glitching from the table to the exit to the room. "We've got a friend to save!" Her friends cheered. And even Turbo looked a little hyped, but Jenna and Alicia weren't sure if this was because he was free of the racers that hated him the most, glad of the chance to redeem himself, eager to see Lulu again, or some combination of the three.

* * *

BEN had taken Lulu to what should have been a boss stage of Majora's Mask. He sat on the sidelines with her and made her watch Link burn himself to death again and again and again. After what felt like hours of this, she cracked. "What is wrong with you?" Lulu wailed. "I was going to help you! Let me go!"

"You don't understand," BEN growled. "You don't know what it's like to not have any friends to play with, to have a father despise you so much that he is driven to murder you, or to spend hundreds of days in an ancient video game watching everyone else get played with!" His smile flickered, but it did not vanish.

"I wanted to save you!" She repeated. "Please, you have to believe me! I was going to help you!"

"You're a liar!" He accused, grabbing his head in his hands and shaking it back and forth, trying to ignore everything she was saying. When he finished his little tantrum, he turned back to her. "This is your last chance. Time to go back to where it all began." He chuckled with his mouth closed, and Lulu shuddered, praying to every computer god she could think of that help would come for her soon. BEN sensed her distress. "Are you ready?" The scene around them changed, and they were back in the Eden-esque part of the world. The only difference was that there was an enormous tree in the distance. Lulu walked towards it, knowing that BEN would not follow her as a normal person would. He'd just use his weird skills to get there before she would.

"What do I do now?" She asked when BEN reappeared beside her. "Are you going to kill me, too?"

"Now we wait for them to come. You said that there would be more friends for me to play with." He let out that same eerie chuckle, and Lulu gulped.

* * *

_I am now accepting some OCs for the story. If you want to submit a potential character, please send me a PM describing your character and his or her kart._

_I'm sorry if this chapter isn't as good as the others. Trust me: this is all buildup to something that is going to be HUGE. Also, the daily updates are back in business!_

_Black and Red Licoricetwist belong to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	25. Chapter 25

**Princess LalaBlue-Lol at the Batman reference. And awesome, I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

**LittleDarling13-OC accepted! Keep an eye out for her towards the end of the story! ;) Thanks for reviewing!**

**EpicDjKitty-Ugh, what is it with this site and posting links in reviews? I'm sorry, what was the name of the site again?**

**Dalek-Your OC has also been accepted, and she will be in this story later.**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-I feel a little bad for BEN, you know? It must suck to have a father drown you. (At least, I think it was his father that drowned him...oh, whatever.)**

**Raccon Girl-I'm very glad that you think so! :)**

**ThatWitchThatLivesInTheJungle-I have heard of it, and I know a little about it, but to be honest, I don't know enough to put it in my story. I'm really really sorry. :(**

Chapter Twenty-Five

Vanellope had been distracted from their mission when she arrived in Game Central. She and the other racers let out a collective gasp. "Isn't this amazing?" Jubileena said, gaping at everything she saw. "I remember being here with you," she said to Vanellope. "We went to see Princess Peach!"

"And we all know who we can blame for not letting us leave our game for almost fifteen years..." Rancis's voice trailed off, and Turbo flushed a dark crimson.

"Can you blame me?" He muttered. "I couldn't risk having you find out the truth about Vanellope!" This was one of the first times he had ever used her real name, and it surprised everyone.

"We have to keep moving," Gloyd reminded them. "Let's go see what the new game is."

"That wasn't there before." It was Candlehead that had pointed to the game reading MAJORA'S MASK. "That must be it, right?" She asked, but Red shook his head.

"A lot of these games weren't here before. We haven't been outside of our own game for over a decade!" As the kids and grown man bickered over what their next course of action should be, Alicia confronted Jenna.

"You've been acting strangely since we left the game," she said. "So what happened with you and Bowser?" Jenna blushed and mumbled something under her breath. "Oh, come on, you can tell me!" Jenna sighed.

"He kissed me," she blurted out. "But then...I don't even know what happened! It was so fast!"

"Let him come to you," Jubileena suggested, pulling away from her group of friends. She had started listening at the mention of the word "kiss". "Maybe then you can make up." Jenna's eyes narrowed.

"How would you know about these things?"

Jubileena blinked. "I don't know," she said, tugging at one of her cherry-shaped earrings. "I just...don't know..."

Vanellope raised her voice. "Candlehead was right," she announced. "The new game is most likely this weirdo mask one. But I think that we should split up and scope out other parts of the station, too. We'll go in groups of three. I'll check out this one with Black and Alicia. Jenna, I need for you and two of the others to walk around here and ask about Lulu. You and Alicia know her best."

"I'll help," Red offered, and Rancis joined him, too. Jenna was relieved. These were two of the least irritating or despicable Sugar Rush racers, meaning that they were more tolerable. The rest of the kids dashed off in different directions, promising to meet back in less than an hour.

* * *

Jenna had listened to various video legends tell her that they had not seen Lulu or anyone suspicious around their world, but her mind was with Bowser. And when it wasn't, it was forced to pay attention to the problems that Rancis and Red were having in their little love lives. "You can talk to her for me, right?" Red begged Rancis.

"Why can't you do it yourself?" Rancis asked, wiping his nails on the sleeve of his shirt.

"I'm new to this whole world, remember?" Red said. "Besides, she's so...take-charge, and I'm not! But you don't have to talk to her for me if you don't want to. I'll just tell Vanellope that you're making plans for your big wedding day."

Rancis scowled. "You win," he grumbled. "I'll talk to Taffyta as soon as we get back."

"Assuming that we ever get back," Red corrected. "We aren't going anywhere without Vanellope, my sister, or the others." Speaking of them, the Sugar Rush characters were pouring back into the heart of Game Central, looking excited, exhausted, enthralled, or all three. They all began to talk at once, telling each other of what they had seen, heard, and done. Turbo, Black, and Vanellope were the last to join them, and they were not smiling.

"It was terrible," Black said, hugging her brother. "I don't ever want to go back there again!"

"But we have to," Turbo reminded them. "Lulu is still in there! He said so himself! And I do have a plan," he concluded.

"Let's hear it!" Vanellope said, but the male racer was silent. "Come on, tell us about it!" She commanded. Turbo frowned. He seemed to be considering whether or not using the children in his "brilliant plan" was a good thing...or maybe he was plotting their demises at the same time.

"Can you at least tell us who you saw in there?" Jenna asked. "Who told you that our friend was inside?"

"He said his name was BEN," Turbo said. Jenna and Alicia exchanged a horrified look, but decided to not tell the children about the amount of danger...at least, not just yet. "And if you want to hear my plan, then you're going to have to listen to me. Hear me out. I'm going to need to go to Portal first. And then we're going back for Lulu. If Wheatley can help us, then my plan will work. At least, I hope it will." Some of the racers looked indignant at his "hope", but Alicia just shook her head and began to return to Sugar Rush. In addition to checking up on the status of Sugar Rush and those who had volunteered to guard the code room, she wanted to see how Knuckles was. She knew that this was probably just her being paranoid, but she could not shake the suspicion that BEN had a larger influence outside of his world than MARIO and Corrupted Sonic had outside of theirs.

And if this was true...and she hoped that it wasn't...then Sugar Rush hung by a thread.

* * *

BEN had placed Lulu in the Happy Mask shop with the creepy owner, but had not locked the door. In fact, he had left it wide open! She would move an inch or so, and his head would tilt to follow her movements. She hated this man with every part of her being. He was just too creepy for her to handle. "I've got to get out of here!" She whispered. She raised her voice and spoke to the man for the first time. "I'm going to leave now. You wouldn't want to hurt BEN's friend, would you?" With that, she stood and strode to the door, ready to walk out and then break into a sprint. She had heard Turbo's voice only a few minutes ago. It had sounded faint, like it was coming from a different level of the game, but it was still there, and it gave her the right amount of hope.

When she placed one foot into the open world, a gust of wind knocked her back. BEN must have sensed her movements and was furious about what she was trying to do. The door slammed shut on its own. And the Happy Mask Man leaned over Lulu and said a single sentence. She would never be sure if he was trying to warn her, threaten her, or scare her.

"You shouldn't have done that..."

* * *

_WOW! You would not believe the number of OCs that have been submitted! Well, I have good news: I think a lot of them are going to be in the story. Also, I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to write. It was really hard, for some reason. _

_Black and Red Licoricetwist belong to Raccon Girl._

_Review, please! :)_


	26. Chapter 26

**I am so freaking sorry for not updating sooner! First it was my final exams. I was this close to failing Chemistry, but my new teacher helped me study harder, so I managed to pass. Then I was so relieved that I didn't want to do anything aside from nothing, haha. And then it was just pure laziness. AND THEN it was my cousin's graduation party, which was a complete waste of my time. I won't even talk about the part where his uncle (his mother's brother) tried to hit on me and a six-year-old girl! Rest assured...I'm back!**

**AnonymousZGirl-YIKES! Girl, I love you to death, like I do all of my reviewers, but...that is A LOT to take in. *sighs* I'll see what I can do. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!**

**Princess LalaBlue-Here you go, my good friend!**

**TheWitchThatLivesInTheJungle-Well...read the end of this chapter. Maybe I can work something out after all? ;)**

**Raccon Girl-Don't worry. I never let my stories end badly for the characters!**

**Dalek-I hope that you like what I've done with her in the story, and I hope that you don't mind her and Swizzle being love interests! ;) Thanks for reviewing!**

**Ashuradehedgehog-Stop being so thinky! Oh, I'm only joking. The answers will be revealed in good time...but I think you'll be surprised from what you'll learn...OOOOH, am I being mysterious?**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-Oh, haha. *waves at the random citizen* Hey, this is making me think of Megamind...GAAAAH! I would totally write a fic on that...hey, I should! Alicia, if you're reading this...MINION IS MINE!**

**And to my Chemistry teacher from the beginning of this semester, a very special shout-out: Dearest Madam, live long and suck it.**

Chapter Twenty-Six

"I have to admit that this game is even more impressive than I imagined it to be," Turbo confessed, still gawking at everything in the world of Portal. Wheatley had been giving him the cold shoulder, and GLaDOS and Chell were nowhere to be found.

"What can I do to make you shut up and get out?" Wheatley barked.

"It's just a tiny favor," Turbo promised. "You've had access to Sonic dot exe and MARIO in the past, right?" Wheatley gave a robotic nod. "Just hack into BEN and tell me where the code room is, and then we'll be on our way."

"How do I know that you won't try to take over that game?" Wheatley pointed out.

"Because we've already been there!" Black stepped forward. "And it's another Trojan Game. We need to get rid of it, and we need his help."

"A friend of ours is in there," Red added. "She's in danger."

"When will you EVER LEARN?" Wheatley exploded. "Don't go looking around in places that you know will only bring you trouble!"

"None of us go looking for trouble," Jenna sighed. "Trouble usually finds us. But can you please help us just one more time?" She implored.

"Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?" Jubileena added, batting her eyelashes. Wheatley groaned and turned to his computer, which he slaved over for a good long time. Turbo continued to wander around the room of the game that they were in, obsessed with how pretty the graphics looked. The racers chatted with each other, sometimes glowering at Turbo. Finally, Wheatley had results.

"Look in the Happy Mask Shop," He suggested. "If it isn't there, I don't know where." Turbo and the others thanked him before they left.

"Alright, here's the plan," Turbo said, getting everyone to huddle around him. Jenna couldn't help but feel silly. First they hated Turbo, then they were reluctant allies, and now they were forced to take orders from him like he was their football coach? She stiffled a giggle, but resisted the urge to shout when they heard Turbo out.

"We could all die this way," she said in a low voice to him. The children were just as aware of the risks as she was, and they weren't quite ready to die.

* * *

Alicia couldn't find Knuckles anywhere, and she was scolding herself for forgetting that Knuckles had a rebellious streak, not to mention a restless nature. He was not going to sit back while another war went on around him. She headed for the palace...the place she should have looked for him first instead of last. But when she entered, she found a surprise waiting for her, and it didn't have anything to do with the person she was searching for. There were four new racers talking to the children that were guarding the code room. One was a pretty blond adult chewing on a piece of gum as she spoke. The other three were children, and two of them were boys. Swizzle scowled at both of them, but smiled at the young girl whenever they made eye contact.

It was the adult that noticed Alicia and called out to her. "Hey! Are you a new racer? I'm Bubbles!" When Alicia was close enough, she was pulled into a hug. "It's SO nice to have more adults here!" Bubbles exclaimed. "Anyway, you don't know them, so I'll introduce you! New racer, this is Jake, Caleb Cottoncandy, and Cindy Swirl. Guys, meet New racer."

"Her name is Alicia Rish," Taffyta laughed. "Anyway, Alicia, what are you doing here? Did Turbo do something that he's going to regret?" She got serious, and Crumbelina cracked her knuckles.

"No, no...I'm looking for Knuckles. You remember him, right? Has he come by here at all?"

"Yeah, he did," Adorabeezle answered. "But he didn't stay too long. He left after he said something about going to teach 'someone a lesson in pain'." Alicia groaned.

"I shouldn't have left him alone so soon," she moaned. "Why does he want to go do something stupid...?"

"Because he's a boy," Adorabeezle giggled. Taffyta and the other girls laughed too, but the boys weren't too pleased about being the subject of a joke.

"Whatever," the boy named Caleb said. The Swizz burst out laughing, and Caleb glared at him. "What's so funny? You think that being a boy is funny, like these girls?"

"You're wearing PINK!" This was true. Caleb had pink hair that was kept in a ponytail, a pink cape, a pink eye patch, and pink boots. Caleb's visible eye, which was a light blue, flashed.

"Pink was a masculine color once," He snapped. "Whatever. I don't need you guys to help me. I'm going to go look for the president and see what she remembers. And I'm going ALONE!" He stomped off. Crumbelina frowned.

"I seem to recall some of us telling him that we don't buy the whole 'bad boy' act," she said to Taffyta.

"What about you and Lemmy?" Adorabeezle teased. Crumbelina's mocha-colored cheeks grew more opaque as she blushed.

"Lemmy is sweet!"

"You're with Lemmy Koopa?" Jake asked, making a face. "What do you see in him?"

"Everything that she doesn't see in you!" Swizz teased, coming to the lovestruck girl's rescue. "Face it, Last-Nameless Jake: you were created in less than a day. While my hair was being perfected, you were being slapped together and forced into the game." Jake scowled.

"I don't need you or Caleb to find Knuckles!" He declared. "I'm going now!" He huffed away, and Cindy turned to Swizzle.

"You were rather rude," she said. This sweet girl wore red shoes with light brown bows on them, had brown hair and brown eyes, and a simple outfit. She didn't look as flashy as Taffyta or did, but yet Swizzle blushed.

"It's all true," he insisted. "That's why he doesn't look like us!"

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" Alicia asked, fearing that the hatred within the racers remained. Only instead of attacking their beloved president, they would go after the one they deemed the outsider. Taffyta's mouth opened, and her lollipop dangled from the corner of her mouth.

"Everything is starting to make so much more sense now that everything is back to normal," she said, letting her candy fall from her mouth and hit the floor. "It wasn't just Black and Red that...I mean, we can remember when Vanellope was a princess."

"When Turbo came to Sugar Rush, nobody wanted to help him," Cindy interrupted. "Black was the one who convinced Vanellope to incorporate him into our game. So she took him into the code room."

"That was his first visit to that part of the castle, but you know that it was not the last," Bubbles added. "It was Caleb that began to suspect that something was wrong with him wanting to 'help' the princess with the codes. At first we didn't believe him."

"He tried to delete our codes. He almost succeeded with Vanellope," Swizz spat. "And he kept us in SCS," he said, gesturing to the new characters. "He kept Black around for some reason. Probably thought that she'd be against a glitch."

Taffyta was crying again, and Adorabeezle rushed to comfort her. "The last thing I can remember was talking to Vanellope about our cars and Turbo, and then...we were kicking her around in the dirt, calling her names..." She hiccuped. "This is our fault. We should have listened to you," she said to Jake and the new characters through her tears.

"What is SCS?" Alicia wondered, hoping to change the subject.

"It means 'System Crash State'," Crumbelina spoke up. "It's sort of like when a virus infects a game, only when it's just a specific character." She shrugged. "At least, that's what I think it means. Jake is the one who is all tech-savvy."

"Let's go get him!" Bubbles shouted, pumping her fist into the air. "Let's find him and Knuckles!" With that goal in mind, she led Alicia and Cindy out of the palace. Alicia was surprised to see that there were new karts parked there, and she wondered how she didn't notice them on her way inside.

"Hey, is that a motorcycle?" She asked, pointing to the one vehicle that did not in any way resemble a car. Bubbles beamed and nodded.

"Let's get poppin'!" She yelled, revving up her ride and speeding ahead of Alicia's Scarlet Streaker and Cindy's Cinammon Spin...

* * *

Lulu was trembling, huddled against the wall, whispering to herself every so often. "Shhh...I'm okay. I'm going to be okay." The Happy Sales Mask Man had been watching her in silence for a while, but then he began to hum. At first, Lulu thought nothing of it. If he felt pity for her, then he was trying to calm her, or so she thought. If he was gloating, he was singing in his own way. She did not care either way. But then his voice changed. It got higher in pitch, and then she recognized the song.

The Lavender Town Theme from the Pokemon games was infamous for driving children to commit suicide, or so the legend went. And now he was humming it. Lulu gritted her teeth and slapped her hands over her ears, but that only helped so much. She had not been convinced that all of the Lavender Town Legends were true, but she did not doubt that children would commit suicide after listening to this song for hours on end.

"Do you want for me to die?" She shouted at her tormentor, who kept smiling and singing. She had to block him out somehow, and thought of her favorite television show: Mystery Science Theater 3000. In order to endure viewing horrible movies, the protagonists of the show would make fun of the films. She was in a similar situation. But how could she make fun of a song with no lyrics...a song that many claimed was responsible for the deaths of many children? The only thing Lulu could think of was to come up with her own lyrics...that way her mind would stay close to sanity. She cleared her throat and began mumbling.

"You've met with a terrible fate...I loved my father, never hate, but he kept me all alone..."

* * *

_During my last semester of school, I started to write a poem called "BEN's Song", and I sing some of it at the end of this chapter. If I do not honor the promise I am about to make, then you may come after me with pitchforks and torches. Ahem..._

_I PROMISE TO BRING DAILY UPDATES BACK!_

_Black and Red Licoricetwist belong to Raccon Girl. _

_Cindy Swirl belongs to Dalek._

_Jake belongs to epicabsol._

_Caleb Cottoncandy belongs to Deathstroke Terminator._

_Bubbles belongs to LittleDarling13._

_PHEW! There are so many OCs. And it gives me an idea. Once this story is completed, I'm thinking about creating a bunch of one-shots to serve as a sequel. They'll mostly be about the OCs interacting with each other and the other characters. What do you guys think? Would you like to see that?_

_Review, please! :)_


	27. Chapter 27

**Epic DjKitty-Okay, thank you! I'll be sure to check it out later!**

**Princess LaLaBlue-Alicia and I are thinking about doing a story on it. (I love Crow and she loves Mike, haha.) But I think that the problem is that there aren't enough fans here on the site...eh, whatever. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Deathstroke Terminator-I'm glad you approve, and I hope you like seeing more of him and his interactions here in this chapter! Also, I can't wait for your story to be uploaded! Let me know when that happens, okay?**

**AnonymousZGirl-Let's wait and see if I can work the OCs into the story later, okay? Thanks for reading!**

**Witchy-Meh, I understand. LOL! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Dalek-Okay, that's good, I'm glad you like both ideas! And I like the Swizz, too, but Jubileena is one of my favorites! Anyway, stay sweet! Good luck with your exam!**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-I almost made love to my computer once after my Internet access was restored...okay, no, I didn't. But I did make out with the screen because I was looking at pictures of one of my favorite cartoon characters, haha.**

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"Okay, let's go over this one more time," Turbo said, giving his final prep talk. "Rancis and Gloyd will be on guard duty and try to keep anyone from entering the game while we're there. The Licoricetwist Twins and Jenna are in charge of keeping BEN busy. Candlehead, Snowanna, Minty, and Jubileena are going to have to create a distraction to lure the salesman out of his shop. Once the coast is clear, Vanellope and I are going to find the Happy Mask Shop and find the codes. If everything works, we should be able to walk out the door. No problems at all." Jenna wasn't happy with having to entertain another out-of-control character, but she kept her mouth shut for Lulu's sake.

"What good will these codes do for us or Lulu?" Snowanna demanded.

"I'm going to go inside them and see what BEN is made of," Turbo announced, flexing his fingers. "I'll exorcise him if I have to."

Red snorted. "You can't 'exorcise' something that is made of data."

"But there is a way to turn entity into data. They have a life of their own and it is difficult to distinguish them from everyday computer or game files. I think that BEN may have possessed Majora's Mask when he died in the gamers' world. And if that's the case, then every moment we spend talking gives him more strength."

"Then we're wasting time. Let's go!"

* * *

The grassy plains were beautiful, even though the graphics were a little out of date. "Here, BEN! Here, BEN! Come here, BEN, we just want to play with you!" Jenna called. Her feet were getting tired from all of the walking. It seemed to her that they had just walked in one giant circle, but she couldn't tell because everything looked identical to something else!

"We're looking for a little kid, not a dog," Red reminded her. "How do you get a kid to stop hiding?"

"Aren't you a little young to be calling somebody else 'a kid'?" Jenna asked, smiling.

"I think it's safe to say that we're older than BEN is," Black replied.

"Not to mention more mature," Red added.

"That's not very nice," a silky smooth voice sneered, and the trio gasped when the boy they had been searching for stood right in front of them. "I think I am very mature for someone my age. In fact, I think it's immature of you to say that someone isn't mature."

"Are you calling me immature for calling you immature? Because I happen to think that's very immature. And it's making you a hypocrite," Red smirked. Jenna's head hurt from the game of words.

* * *

"So how come Jake doesn't look like the other racers or have a last name?" Alicia wondered as she and the other two girls rode to Game Central.

"It's kind of a long story," Cindy chuckled. "But it's all true, I Swirl Swear! See, Sugar Rush was getting completed way ahead of schedule, and one of the programmers decided to create a character in his image. We all know him as Jake! He's kind of like an Easter Egg, except you don't need a code to play as him." Once their train stopped at the station, they stepped off and were greeted by Caleb.

"The good news is that we found Knuckles," he reported, scratching his eye patch.

"And the bad news is...?" Bubbles asked, bracing for the worst.

"See for yourself," he said, pointing. Alicia's eyes widened when she saw that Knuckles was interrogating Eggman. Jake had given up on trying to intervene.

"Where is it?" Knuckles shouted, his fist posed to strike the doctor again.

"I'm telling you the truth!"

"Knuckles, stop it!" Alicia shouted, running over. "He's not the one we're after!" The red animal looked up, recognized Alicia, and released his in-game rival.

"That's what I've been telling him!" Eggman whined, massaging his sore face. "Have you forgotten that if I die out here, I can't regenerate?" He sighed when Knuckles growled some more threats. "I keep telling you that Miss Lulu or whatever her name is is in THERE!" He pointed to the newest addition to the arcade, and Bubbles swallowed her gum when her blue eyes landed on Rancis and Gloyd.

Their mouths dropped open, and Cindy rushed over to pull both of the boys into a hug. "I missed you guys so much!" She said into their shoulders. They hugged her back and grinned at Bubbles. But they didn't react quite as well to the two boys. In fact, they ignored Caleb and Jake, focusing instead on sweet Cindy.

"Where did you come from?" Rancis asked. His ear-to-ear grin faded when Bubbles told him their reasons. "I think I can remember that now!" He exclaimed towards the end. "But now everyone else needs to see you!"

"Let's go, then!" Bubbles cheered, starting to walk into the Haunted Majora's Mask, but the two boys blocked her. "Hey, what gives? Don't you want to go spread the news? And isn't everyone in there?"

"We do and they are, but we aren't allowed to let anybody enter this game until Vanellope says that it's safe to," Gloyd said, as stern as a teacher, not like his usual goofy nature.

"Are you serious?" Caleb groaned. "Why?"

"We aren't supposed to let anybody inside until Vanellope says that it's okay," Rancis repeated.

"But it's just us!" Cindy protested, stamping her foot. "You can trust us!"

"I'm sorry," Gloyd shook his head. "But we can't let anyone go past us."

"Fine by me," Jake shrugged. "Since when have I needed YOUR permission to do anything?" With that, he socked the two boys in the face. As they fell to the floor and moaned in pain, he walked past them and into the face of danger. Caleb followed.

"JERK WAD!" Gloyd howled. Bubbles knelt next to him and looked at the damage.

"It'll heal once we get back to our own game," she promised.

"Or we can go find Felix and get him to..." Alicia had remembered that Felix's magic hammer had healing properties, but this idea was not as good to Bubbles as it was to her. The blond adult stiffened and shook her head.

"You and Cindy need to get into the game, find the boys, and get out," she said, taking charge. "I don't know what's in there, but I have a bad feeling about it."

* * *

Lulu was running out of lyrics, but her tormentor was silenced when a rock struck him in the back of the head. It had been thrown at him, breaking the window of his shop in the process. He cried in alarm and pain as he fell to the ground, but got up, massaging where he had been struck. He gave Lulu a warning glance before leaving the shop. He locked the door behind him, leaving her sealed inside.

"Look at him!" Minty was laughing. "He's so ugly! No wonder he sucks at what he does! The only things uglier than him are those stupid masks he makes!"

"Yeah, where did you get those?" Candlehead taunted, sticking out her tongue. "Was it the garbage can? Oh, wait...your whole game is a piece of trash!"

"Good one," Jubileena complimented, rewarding her friend with a high-five. The man was shaking with visible rage, but the children kept speaking.

"I would call him the Hunchback of Notre Dame," Snowanna mused. "But I shouldn't. He's the game's Punchbag of Ultra Lame!" And now the man had had it. He charged at the kids, who scattered like birds. He was so busy with them that he didn't once look back at his beloved store. So he missed Turbo and Vanellope sneaking inside.

"You came back for me," Lulu whispered.

"Enjoy the show," Vanellope said back, pointing to her fellow racers driving the former captor insane. "But can you tell us if you've seen anything like a code room in here?" Lulu shook her head, and Turbo began to tear through everything he could get his hands on, knocking over shelves and opening cabinet doors.

* * *

Red and Black were engaging in a good round of "Good Cop, Bad Cop". Red was the bad cop, and he was attempting to break BEN by defeating him in the logic game. Black was the good cop, and she kept trying to appeal to the innocence that she was sure existed within BEN. Both twins were failing, and Jenna was out of ideas. Her ears perked up when a familiar voice called out her name. "Jenna, is that you?" She turned to see Alicia running up a hill, accompanied by two girls that she didn't recognize. (She did think that the older one could have been the long-lost twin sister of Princess Peach, but not quite...) Alicia had reached the her and the twins, and she threw her arms around her best friend, grinning.

"There are more of you here," BEN realized, his smile never wavering. "Oh, you've tricked me right and proper, haven't you? But the game is not over yet. I've only just begun to have my fun." He made that horrible chuckle before he vanished in a cloud of green pixels.

* * *

"I thought you said that this would be a piece of cake!" Vanellope hissed at Turbo, who had managed to locate the codes behind a wall of masks but was having difficulty in translating them.

"Well, I might have lied!" He snapped.

"You mean...?" Vanellope giggled. "The cake is a lie!" She bit her hand to keep herself from laughing.

"Be quiet, you!" Turbo scolded. "These codes are NOTHING like the ones back in Sugar Rush. It may take me a while to figure them out."

"Oh, gobstoppers," Vanellope cursed, her eyes widening. Turbo looked surprised, too.

"It's not so bad," he reassured her. "I just have to seperate the corrupted files from the regular data. After that, it should be easy."

"No, no, not you," Vanellope corrected. "HIM!" She pointed, and Lulu screamed when BEN materialized inside of the shop, smiling at everyone present. Turbo swore, too, and he began to dig into the data.

"You will pay for what you have done! I can never die! I am invincible! Two plus two equals four!" BEN blinked. "What the heck was that?" Turbo wiped a bead of sweat off of his head, but BEN kept bothering him. "Why are none of us aging? Dear GLaDOS, are we monsters?"

Turbo laughed. "You're right," he hissed, stabbing some of the buttons with his fingers. "You're not aging. So you're still a little brat!" BEN opened his mouth to say something, but froze when a familiar sound reached his ears. Everyone heard it.

The Song of Healing...

"No," BEN moaned. "No, no, NO!" He burst into flames, screaming as he burned to a crispy corpse in front of their faces. Once he fell silent, the world around them began to crumble in a strange way of it's own. The colors darkened and the graphics grew...glitchier.

It was over. They had won. Vanellope smirked at Turbo. "Don't you just love it when things seem a little too easy?"

* * *

Once they were back in Sugar Rush, the group that had been on guard duty rushed out of the castle, cheering. But Alicia pulled Knuckles aside. Once they were alone, she began to shake him by the shoulders. "Do not ever do that again!" She scolded. "You had me worried sick!"

"Do what again?" He asked, playing innocent.

"Go and attack Eggman without having a real reason to!" She frowned. "Why can't we ever learn to not judge a book by its cover?" She sighed, and so did Knuckles.

"I'm sorry," he grumbled, making his emerald eyes look pouty. She smiled as she forgave him. Meanwhile, Lulu was absolving another of his sins...

"Thanks again for saving me," she was saying to the children. "Especially you, Turbo," she added with a blush, thinking of their last exchange before they were seperated.

"Hey," Turbo said, trying to play the cool guy again. "It's the least I could do. You saved my life, remember? And Black helped too, of course," he added once the Licoricetwist girl opened her mouth to protest. In spite of his act, he had not let go of Lulu's hand since they had left the game. Some of the racers, including Crumbelina and Adorabeezle, had noticed this, and even they couldn't resist making squeals of delight and approval.

"Oh, give me a break! Spare us the love fest!" Jake shouted, stomping off. "I'm going to practice!" The other boys joined him. Jenna left, too, but for her own reasons. She had to speak with Bowser.

* * *

_Alright! It seems that everyone wants a sequel one-shots! So, yes! At the end of this story, keep an eye out for the one-shots! Also, Alicia and I are already planning the next fan girl story! Do you all have any suggestions?_

_BEN has been defeated...that was pretty easy, wasn't it? But the trouble has just started! Mwahahahahahahaha!_

_The OCs belong to their respective owners. (See previous chapter for more specific details.)_

_Review, please! :)_


	28. Chapter 28

**Dalek-Thank you! My father always says things like, "It's the Lunchbag of Notre Dame!" And then he goes on to say in his Ed Wynn voice, "First there was an apple and a sandwich!"**

**epicabsol-Oh, you're welcome! :)**

**Princess Lalablue-Here you go, my fellow MSTie! ;)**

**AnonymousZGirl-I know, right? Even I was a little surprised with how easy it was to defeat him!**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-I don't know who it is you are crushing on, but I am sorry that Turbo keeps beating you up for using his phrase...**

**Deathstroke Terminator-I would do that, but Alicia and Jenna haven't seen The Avengers yet, and I'm not a big fan of the new Batman movies. I prefer the older ones. BTW, I LOVED your newest story! It is awesome!**

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Another meeting inside of the palace had been called, and Turbo was, yet again, another reason for this. Only now the children were debating over whether or not they were to reward Turbo for his brilliant plan to save Lulu...or punish him for the years that he had spent controlling them. "He did save her," Crumbelina said with some hesitation. "And she does seem to really like him. Shouldn't we give him a second chance?" Black nodded, as did Vanellope, but Caleb frowned.

"He deleted me, Cindy, Bubbles, and Jake! And he tried to kill Vanellope!" He slammed his fist onto the table. "Should we just forgive and forget that?"

"Of course not, Cottoncandy," Snowanna said, trying to calm him down. "We all have our doubts about him. Some of us won't admit it, but we do."

"I don't," Candlehead spoke up. "He was nice to us when he was King Candy!"

"Are you saying that he should be the king again?" Bubbles gasped, choking on her gum. Taffyta smacked her on the back, getting the gum unstuck from her throat.

"No, no, I'm not," Candlehead said hastily. "As great as he was, Vanellope is way better!" The black-haired president beamed at the compliment.

"Look, I think there's a simple way to settle this without us biting our heads off," Red announced. "We'll have an anonymous vote. We'll see who wants to keep Turbo around, and nobody's name will be revealed." Everyone agreed that this was a good idea, and little pieces of paper were handed out for the opinions to be written upon.

Alicia stared at her paper for a long time before writing down one word: YES. She folded her paper into a neat square, slid it across the table to Vanellope, and walked out of the castle, where Knuckles was waiting for her.

"Some meeting," he smirked. "You didn't say a word once!"

"Were you eavesdropping?" She asked, making a face. He blushed. Because his skin was already red, it was hard to see, but Alicia had good vision. "Come on, Knuckle-Head," she teased, grabbing his hand. "We have to go find Ralph!"

* * *

Jenna was back inside of Sugar Rush, hiding in the bleachers of the racing stadium, crying to herself. The meeting with Bowser had not gone as she had wanted it to. In fact, she never once spoke to him. His sons had done everything in their power to keep her away from the palace, and the children that did like her were nowhere to be found."I hate you!" Bowser Junior had screamed from his bedroom window. "Why can't you just go away and never come back?" He was holding a Bomb-omb over his head in a menacing manner, ready to toss at Jenna. Roy had already launched Bullet Bills in her direction, which she had dodged with ease and expertise that years of playing Mario games had given her.

"Jenna, can I talk to you?" It was Crumbelina. She took a seat next to Jenna and swung her legs back and forth as she tried to find the right way to start a conversation. "Um, I heard from a reliable source that things haven't been going too well over at Bowser's place." Jenna nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. And she didn't have to be a genius to know that "the source" was Lemmy. "If it helps at all...I asked the source to try and put in a good word for you with the kids." She bit her lower lip and chewed on it for a few moments before continuing. "I once teased him by telling him that I was going to hack into his game codes if he ever broke up with me. I would make him love me." She giggled, and Jenna's eyes widened.

"Couldn't you do that if you wanted to?" She whispered, more to herself than to Crumbelina. "I wonder..."

* * *

Lulu had told Vanellope that she was voting in favor of Turbo staying with the Sugar Rush characters, but decided not to attend the meeting to spend some time with him...alone. But Turbo was restless. "They aren't going to let me do anything here," he lamented, pacing. "It's hopeless. I am never going near a kart as long as I live!"

"You just saved my life," she reminded him for the thousandth time. "They owe you something!" She inched closer. "I owe you my life..."

"I hope we're not interrupting anything," a sing-song voice cut in, and the two pulled apart. Adorabeezle was standing next to Vanellope and in front of some of the fellow racers. Taffyta made her way to the front, smiling once at Lulu before glaring at Turbo.  
"We've reached a decision," she told them. "You're going to compete for a spot in the game from now on if you want to race. But there is a catch."

"Oh? What might that be? An extra gold coin, perhaps?" Turbo tried to laugh, but Vanellope held up her hand, silencing him.

"You'll see when the first players come to Sugar Rush tomorrow! And that should be in...Sour Bill, how much longer do we have to wait?" The president asked, turning to the little green gum ball.

"Less than two hours," he responded, and everyone gasped.

"Sweet mother of monkey milk! We've forgotten the Random Roster race!"

* * *

_Attention, everybody: read the prequel to this story by Deathstroke Terminator! It has been uploaded, and it is awesome!_

_The OCs belong to their respective owners._

_I'm sorry if this chapter sucks. I'm going to be quite frank with all of you now: things haven't been going so well for the fan girls IRL. I don't want to go into the details with Alicia and Jenna, but I can tell you a little about me. My little brother has been spending too much time on his computer, and my Dad is threatening to cut off Internet access...again. In the meantime, I'm still here. And in the next chapter...Alicia visits Ralph; Vanellope breaks the fourth wall; and Jenna does something she's going to regret..._

_Review, please! :)_


	29. Chapter 29

**Dalek-I am so sorry about the links. I don't know what to say except...*facepalm*. But Cindy is here in this chapter!**

**AnonymousZGirl-WHOA, GIRL. So many OCs, so little time! I'm not saying that I don't like them, because I LOVE so many of your characters. But it might be a little while before I can work them in, so you'll have to be very patient with me.**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-Um...you lay a finger on my Turbo, and I will HURT YOU. I will leave you in a pile of your blood...and my urine...which also has blood...but it's MY BLOOD! (Okay, that was a quote from Drawn Together that I couldn't resist using, I'm sorry.)**

**Princess LaLaBlue-Thanks for reviewing, as usual! You rock!**

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Lulu had been pestering Vanellope since the Random Roster race ended. Snowanna was right: everyone had their doubts. And in this case, Lulu was the only one willing to speak them. Even Vanellope twitched and glitched from anxiety and nerves as the moment came closer and closer.

"I know what I'm doing! Litwak is going to open those doors in five minutes, and when that happens, we aren't going to be able to speak to each other until he closes them! Now come on! We have to get into our positions now!" Vanellope had, of course, been one of the winning avatars from the race. The other eight had been Caleb, Snowanna, Jubileena, Lulu, Cindy, The Swizz, and Minty. They had to be posed on the character selection menu that the players would see before racing.

But today something different was going to happen. The players would soon learn that. And the first to discover this were none other than Mutahar and Moppet Girl. Mutahar inserted his quarter into Sugar Rush and clicked on Jubileena's image. But instead of her moving around in a celebratory fashion, Vanellope spoke to them.

"Greetings, fellow racers," she waved from her box.

"What the heck is going on?" Mutahar gasped.

"I suppose you're wondering what the heck is going on," Vanellope grinned. "And I'm here to tell you. You should see an arrow on the side of the screen. Click on that bad boy and it'll take you to a bonus character." Mutahar and Moppet exchanged a surprised and excited look and did what the tiny girl said. Like she promised, the arrow took them to an extra character. But this one wasn't from Sugar Rush at all. It was Turbo! "I hope you don't mind seeing him here," Vanellope continued. "It took the programmers a lot of work to get him here. And in addition to our good friend Turbo, you'll start seeing some new faces. Don't worry, you'll get to race as all of us. But I'll shut up now so you can play! But remember...play nice!" She winked at the kids before freezing in place, like she had never spoken to them at all and was waiting to be selected.

But Jubileena sprang to life, responding to Mutahar's command. "Oh, yeah!" She shouted, blowing a kiss at Mutahar, who laughed his surprise and prepared to go against Moppet Girl. She had picked Cindy as her avatar. The character selection menu disappeared from the screen, meaning that Turbo and the other avatars could relax for a moment.

"Why aren't they picking me?" Lulu heard Turbo lamenting. "Am I really not as great as I used to be?"

"Chill out, old man," Caleb yawned. "You're retro. The players will be all over you like kids over cotton candy."

"What the heck does that word mean?" Turbo wondered.

"It means...that you're old...but in a really good way, which makes you almost new," Snowanna tried to explain. "What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't get too comfortable, Turbo, because we all have a long day ahead of us."

"And I am NOT an old man," Turbo protested in a small whisper. Nobody would know if the players were finished racing until a Quarter Alert was given. "I am not old, am I, Lulu?"

"No, Turbo, you're not," she reassured him. "You're MY old man." She had to bite her hand to keep herself from laughing out loud and alerting Mutahar and Moppet.

* * *

Knuckles and Alicia had been joined by Tails and the girls from the evil Sonic game, but they had not expected Bubbles to tag along to Fix-It Felix Junior. "Huh, it's been FOREVER since I've been in here," the racer commented, popping her gum. Her blue eyes shone with fear when Felix's voice reached their ears. "Now I remember why that is..."

"What do you have against Felix?" Amy asked. "He seems so nice!"

"I guess he is," Bubbles said. "But he's just...a little too happy for my taste!" She shuddered. "It gives me the creeps! Like that Happy Mask Guy does!"

"But if it does, then why did you come with us?" Knuckles growled. He was irritated when he and Alicia no longer had any privacy, and it looked like Bubbles was sticking to them like glue stuck to the bottom of a shoe.

"You really have to ask that?" Bubbles snorted. "It seems that everytime somebody leaves their game, something bad happens. We just got Lulu back, and I don't want to lose any of you to some crazy character or a bad virus."

"We're still early," Cream reminded them. "Shouldn't we get back to Sugar Rush?"

"Nah, let's hang out here for a while!" Bubbles suggested, sitting down by the pile of bricks that served as Ralph's home. From here they got a good view of the action. Felix was fixing the damage Ralph was causing to the building owned by the Nicelanders. Felix spotted them and froze in place. Alicia waved at him, but Bubbles avoided all eye contact.

"Don't worry, we're okay," Alicia mouthed, and Felix resumed his repairs. Ralph was soon defeated and thrown from the top of the Nicelanders' flat. He landed in a puddle of mud, but got up and back to his starting position when another Quarter Alert sounded.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked through clenched teeth. "You're not going Turbo, are you?"

"No, we're not!" Knuckles snapped back.

"We got bored," Alicia laughed. "We wanted to come and talk to you about the apartment plans again, but we were too impatient to wait until after the arcade closed. So we decided to take a break from Sugar Rush and watch the show in here."

"Fine," Ralph said. The next Quarter Alert rang out for the second time, warning the characters to get in place, and he sighed. "I can't stay and chat now. Duty calls. And don't make any potty jokes using that word!" He warned when Bubbles opened her mouth with a very Vanellope-ish smile.

"Is he a mind reader?" She asked when the bumbling bad guy stomped onto the screen, shouting threats.

"No, he isn't. Don't tell me you're afraid of him, too," Alicia groaned.

"I can't tell if I'm attracted to him or afraid of him or both," Bubbles answered, chewing on her gum as she thought. "And I can't decide if it's a bad thing."

"Why does love have to be so complicated?" Knuckles whined, shaking his head. His dreadlocks danced around his face, and Alicia gaped at him.

"How is love complicated?"

For once, Knuckles knew when to keep his mouth shut. He didn't say a word for at least two hours.

* * *

Jenna didn't want to go to Wheatley for help, especially not during game hours, when he would be the least helpful and the most sarcastic. So she decided to give the boring and time-consuming task of finding the codes to the Mario game to herself. "Okay...there's one code room and about ten thousand worlds here?" She guessed when she snuck into the game. She camped out in Yoshi's House to avoid being seen by any players. "This is going to take a while." She was exhausted just from thinking about it.

But she had to keep thinking, and she thought about the code room inside of Sugar Rush. It was located in the largest building of that world...wouldn't it make sense if all of the code rooms were located in the wonders of the games?

That was it! The code room had to be in Bowser's palace! "Jenna, you are a genius," she whispered to herself, leaving the house and preparing to sprint for the last world of the game.

What could possibly go wrong now?

* * *

_Who is ready for the most awesome news ever? *pause for dramatic effect* I. Am. Going. To. Be. INTERVIEWING THE CREATOR OF SONIC DOT EXE! *squeal of joy* It's really nothing special...it's for a paper I'm writing about the history of Creepypasta and the effects it has on the online community (and the rest of the world). But still...I love this guy's work! He's amazing! In addition to the five versions of Sonic dot exe, he's made original Sonic games of his own, one of which I downloaded. (It's safe, don't worry. I also downloaded the fourth version of Sonic dot exe, and that's safe to. But to exit out of the game, use Ctrl-Alt-Del. The ESC button won't work with Sonic dot exe. YOU CAN NEVER ESCAPE CORRUPTED SONIC!)_

_The OCs belong to their respective owners._

_Review, please! :)_


	30. Chapter 30

**JarrettSoon-I know, right? I think that it's probably one of the best movies to come from Disney in a long, long time. And I like your OC a lot, so I'll see if I can work him in. Thanks for reading!**

**Dalek-Yes, sir, I will! *salutes you* And oh, sure, I'll keep that in mind about Cindy and the Swizz! (LOL, it almost sounds like Beauty and the Beast...say, there's an idea for a story!)**

**InsanityCupcakes-Well, I'm flattered that you consider this story inspiring, and I do agree with you. The romance does tend to come a little quick in these stories. I think that I bring it on a little early because in some of my favorite stories, the romance takes FREAKING FOREVER to appear, and when it does, it's towards the end of the story. I can promise you this: all three of the fan girls will not have an easy time with their love life(s), so that should make things interesting.**

**Ashuradehedgehog-I really should talk to my dad about getting one of those. They sound really cool! But I'm happy that you caught up!**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-Ugh, I'm sorry about you having a crappy day. Join the club. I hope that this chapter makes you feel a little better!**

**Guest-Yes, there was. Read the end of the chapter to see why. Rest assured, I am going to try to update every day.**

Chapter Thirty

Jenna's scruples were starting to catch up with her, but it was too late for her to turn back now. She had located the code room in one of the unusable rooms of the fortress: the castle kitchen. She smirked to herself. She was the kind of person who would not eat food unless she had to...but at the same time, she wanted to know if video game food tasted any different from the real world food.

It was this curiosity that led her to find the code room. She had opened the door to the fridge and examined the contents: milk, pizza, mushrooms...and a strange door-like thing in the very back. When she opened it, she was pulled into it by some strange force. And there she was, just floating in the code room. "Whoa," she gasped, looking around. "This is a lot of data." So many wires were connected to so many boxes. It was going to take her forever to find the boxes she was looking for.

But she was willing to spend days inside of this dark labyrinth of data in order to accomplish what she came to do. So she decided to leave for just a quick moment. If she had known that this was going to be a difficult task, she would have taken food from Sugar Rush. But the food from Bowser's kitchen would have to do.

The healthiest thing she could find within the contents of the fridge were cherries that looked like they were fresh from Pac-Man. Her stomach grumbled, and Jenna ate one. But as soon as the food was in her mouth, a shrill alarm went off, sounding even more urgent than the Quarter Alerts did. She choked on her snack when the windows and doors to the kitchen slammed shut, sealing her inside. The alarm was silenced when four figures unlocked the kitchen door and entered.

"DON'T MOVE! PUT YOUR HANDS OR CLAWS UP WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM! WE HAVE SHELLS, AND WE ARE NOT AFRAID TO USE THEM!" Jenna yelped and obeyed, dropping the cherries on the floor. "Wait a minute...Jenna, is that you?"

"Hi, Wendy," she mumbled around a mouthful of food.

The female Koopaling sighed, relaxing. "Boys, it's okay, it's just Jenna."

"Brilliant deduction, Brainy," Iggy snapped back, and Lemmy and Larry laughed. Jenna also smiled, but Iggy became no-nonsense before she could make her escape. "You will answer our questions if you want to regenerate inside of your own game."

"That's just perfect, because I have questions, and I want answers!" She retorted, knowing that Iggy was not going to kill her. "For starters, why aren't you guys in your castles? The players are going to be upset when they notice that the bosses are missing from the boss levels!"

"Oh, please," Iggy sighed. "Nobody can get through our game in one day. And the last time I checked, the current player was still goofing around Yoshi's House."

"Actually, that may have been me," Jenna admitted. "I was there a little while ago." Iggy's eyes widened.

"Why didn't you say so? I gotta go NOW!" He ran out of the room, and they could hear him crying, "I'm late! I'm late! I am so very, very LATE!" Lemmy watched his twin leave, but the other Koopalings turned back to Jenna.

"What are you doing here?" Wendy demanded, getting straight to the point. "Forget the fact that the arcade is open! Why are you in this room of our home?"

"I was hungry," she lied at once. Wendy raised an eyebrow, not buying this excuse for a minute. After all, Jenna was from a game that had a candy motif. She sighed. "Okay, fine! The truth is that I was looking for the codes to the game!"

"What do you want with the codes?"

Jenna bit her lip. She could lie to them, but this could only complicate the situation even more. She just had to tell them the truth. "Look, I just...I don't know! I thought that maybe if I could erase your memories of your mothers, maybe you guys would give me a chance! Maybe your father would like me and not feel guilty about it!" This was the truth, and it sounded horrible even to herself. Jenna's eyes filled with tears of shame. "I didn't want to do it, but I didn't know what else I could do." She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "And now you guys hate me, right? This is the part where you throw me out and tell me to never come back."

"No, it isn't!" Wendy corrected, rushing to Jenna and surprising her with a warm, sincere hug. "I already told you that Daddy likes you a lot. And altering his memories isn't going to change that. And you don't need to play with my code to change the fact that I like you, too!"

"I think you're nice, too, Jenna," Larry added, and Lemmy nodded.

"So does Iggy!"

"You don't have to fix our brothers to make them like you," Wendy told Jenna, wiping her tears away. She made the most menacing face she could muster up. "WE can make them like you!" She offered, and Jenna cracked a weak smile. "Or they can grow to like you," Wendy said. "Do you think that you can do that?" Jenna nodded. "Good!" Wendy smiled. "Do you want to hang out with us after the arcade closes? Daddy is going out again, so you can come here and have fun!"

"Sure! Okay, I just have one more question," Jenna said, folding her arms across her chest.

"We're all ears," Larry said, now looking to the fridge and twitching from the temptations inside.

"You have a security system for the food, but not for the code room?" She asked, dumbfounded. Wendy shrugged.

"Hey, don't look at us! I didn't come up with it! Our father did!" Lemmy insisted. "He doesn't want anyone going near his stash of snacks now that he's on a diet!"

"When did he start this diet?"

"After he met you," Larry answered. "He said that he was worried that you'd think that he was too fat or something."

"It's not FAT, it's muscle," she corrected, surprised that even the Koopa with such an impressive body had low self-esteem...

"Why don't we have a security system for our code room?" Wendy wondered, tapping her chin with a manicured nail as she contemplated. "It doesn't even have a password!"

"Dad says that it's because he thought that nobody would be able to find the room except for him," Lemmy explained. "Aside from us, I mean. But I guess it didn't work out." Wendy giggled.

"Daddy is so silly sometimes!"

* * *

"You never answered my question," Alicia said once the arcade closed. Cream and Amy had stayed behind to talk with Ralph, and Tails was headed off for Sugar Rush. He would not say what he was going to be doing there, but Alicia knew that a candle-headed girl probably had something to do with it.

"Which question was that?" Knuckles asked, playing dumb again.

"Oh, never mind," she sighed, letting the matter drop. As they traveled in silence, they picked up the voice of Mutahar over in the computer section.

"Hey, Mr. L, what's this?" He was waving Litwak over to the computer section. The older man looked at the screen of one of the laptops and smiled.

"That's an old game that I finally figured out how to install correctly. It's called The Theater, and if you want to play it tomorrow, you should be able to. Let me know how it works out. But in the meantime, you should really be getting home." Mutahar nodded and waved goodbye. Soon after, Litwak followed.

"Not if I can help it," Knuckles chuckled. Alicia stared at him, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's check out the game before they do!" He urged. Alicia made a face, thinking about Sonic dot exe, MARIO, BEN...and what Bubbles had been doing outside of Sugar Rush. But Bubbles had only been concerned with the innocent Felix, who was now off visiting his wife in Hero's Duty. "Oh, come on!" Knuckles said again. "What's the worst that could happen in this game?"

* * *

Alicia could see why Litwak had troubles with getting the game to work. It was an old game, possibly older than Felix and Turbo combined. They were standing in an empty movie theater lobby. Posters covered the walls, but the artwork was so poor that nothing could be made out of them. The only other person there was a white, balding man. Alicia would come to call this person the Ticket Taker, for this was the one purpose it seemed he had. The odd thing was that he let them go inside without tickets.

"Thank you. Please enjoy the movie." The two of them, still holding hands, walked into the tunnel, thinking that there would be rooms serving as the actual theaters inside. But the tunnel was too dark for them to see anything, and when they reached the end of it, they were surprised to see that they were back at the beginning! The Ticket Taker was standing where he had been before, and when Alicia and Knuckles approached him, he repeated, "Thank you. Please enjoy the movie." Thinking that the game probably just restarted due to it just being installed, they entered the tunnel again. But then the process began again. And again. AND AGAIN.

"What the heck is going on here?" Knuckles said aloud. "We're not here to play games. We just want to watch a movie!" They must have entered the tunnel at least three or four more times before something different happened. The Ticket Taker was absent from his usual place, and now the movie posters looked more distinct. In each one, a man with a swirl instead of a head was present. "Okay, NOW we should be able to watch a movie!" Knuckles exclaimed. "I wish they had popcorn, though."

"I'm not hungry, thanks," Alicia said. For some reason, the Swirl-Headed Man was making her feel naseous and dizzy. Maybe a movie wasn't such a good idea after all...

"Hey, I can actually move around in here now!" Knuckles had gone ahead and entered the tunnel without Alicia. She followed him inside, and she shared his disappointment at what there was: nothing. The floor was red and carpeted, but there were no rooms. When they came to the end of the passageway, instead of reentering the theater again, a brick wall blocked their path. Knuckles growled and reached out to touch it. As soon as his hand made contact, he froze and began to glitch. "BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA..."

"KNUCKLES!" Alicia cried, rushing to him. "Are you okay? Speak to me!" He began to stop shaking and glitching.

"Bastard programmers need to be more careful!" He roared, glaring at the wall. "This is either them, or that dumb Ticket Taker!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and began to call for him. "CAN YOU HEAR ME? We're not going to play with you anymore! Let us go, or I will teach you a lesson in pain!" The reply given was too distorted to make out, but Alicia was twenty percent sure that it may have been this:

"NEVER REACH THE OTHER LEVELS."

"This isn't exactly the most romantic place to propose, like I thought it was," Knuckles complained, punching the wall again. He glitched for the second time and froze in place. Alicia was frozen, too, but she hadn't gone near the wall at all.

_"What did you say?!"_

"Nothing!" Knuckles blushed. "I said...wait, do you hear that?" Alicia listened as hard as she could, and then she picked up the whispers of small children. But they grew louder and louder, like they were coming closer and closer. But in spite of the amount of light they now had in the passageway, Alicia and Knuckles could not see anyone except for them. But she heard what they were saying:

"Kagome, Kagome. Listen when we say. Kagome, Kagome. Now it's time to play. Kagome, Kagome. Near us you will stay. Kagome, Kagome. Now it's time to play." This only confused Alicia more. The only person named Kagome that she knew was a character from one of her favorite anime shows, Inuyasha.

"Come and play with us forever," a masculine voice cackled, and Alicia screamed when the Swirl-Headed Man appeared next to them in the tunnel, along with translucent figures. Although many spoke with the voices of children, none of them looked like they were young at all. Knuckles growled again, showing his sharp teeth as he prepared to take on a powerful foe. "You've met with a terrible fate now, haven't you? You shouldn't have done that!" The Swirl-Headed Man...BEN...laughed some more, and his "children" began to giggle, too.

* * *

The citizens of Sugar Rush had scattered all over the place after registering for the Random Roster event. Candlehead and Crumbelina were off to see their out-of-game boyfriends; Vanellope was back at the castle with Rancis; Gloyd and Black were exploring the Candy Cane Forest; Red was trying to gather the courage to speak to Taffyta. So far all he could do was stare at her with dreamy eyes while she looked at him with something close to pity. Lulu and a few of the kids were discussing Turbo's first day as a Sugar Rush character.

"What do you think of him?" Snowanna asked Caleb. "He wasn't so bad, was he? I think he gave you quite a run for your money during that last race!"

"He's hiding something," Caleb blurted out. "I don't trust him!"

"Chillax, dude," Snowanna said, sounding bored as she leaned against the Fro Cone, her car. "You just need to do as the Swizz says: live life until the last breath."

"Well, the Swizz isn't here," Caleb snapped. "He's off with Cindy doing whatever it is that they want to do. So I'm not going to 'chillax', babe."

Snowanna stiffened. "WHAT did you just call me?"

"Listen, BABE," Caleb smirked. "I don't like being called 'dude'. Got it?"

"You're a little too feisty for your own good," Adorabeezle told him, playing with one of her earrings. "But I think that's how Snowanna likes you," she giggled. Snowanna's eyes widened, and she turned against her friend.

"What do you mean?"

"Snowy and Caleb are sitting in a Candy Cane Tree...K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" The wintery racer sang at the top of her lungs. Caleb had turned as pink as his hair and escaped the scene before things got even more awkward. Lulu watched him leave and sighed. Turbo was unhappy about not being accepted by the characters in his new game, even though the players were more than happy to see him again. She decided to find him. It would get her more time to be with him and less time baby-sitting.

* * *

She found him in the kart factory, examining the car designs, both old and new. He heard her enter the building. "Have you come to help me, or are you just here to fill me in on the latest gossip?" He asked, not turning around. "I already know a good rumor. Get this: there's a washed-up racer that's trying to get into Lulu Smarties-Pants' pants!"

"That is NOT what they are saying!" She stammered, blushing. "But Caleb still doesn't trust you," she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "And I think that the others still need to warm up to you."

"That's a shocker," Turbo sneered, but Lulu frowned when his voice rose in pitch.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just plain old peachy!" He squeaked, but even his charms weren't convincing her. "I'm going to go practice my moves by the tracks. See you!" He did not spend another moment looking at the many karts. He drove off in his old car, looking glad to be rid of her, and Lulu could no longer lie to herself.

He was hiding something from her and the others...

* * *

_Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I had to babysit the kids that live next door to me, and when I came back home, my dad decided to be a jerk and forced me to watch Star Trek! (And then it was followed by one of the best episodes of Futurama I have ever seen...but still!)_

_Okay, and the reason why Jenna eats cherries...come on. Am I the ONLY ONE who notices that in famous stories, a woman ALWAYS gives in to the temptation of FRUIT? Think about it: Eve and Snow White had the apple. Persephone had the pommegranite. Sarah had the peach (in Labyrinth, in case you don't know). Ofelia had the grapes (in Pan's Labyrinth, one of my favorite movies)._

_Two Creepypastas are used here: The Theater and Kagome, Kagome. The song used by the children is one that I made up. (Also...BEN is back! Mwahahahaaha!)_

_The OCs belong to their respective owners._

_Review, please! :)_


	31. Chapter 31

**AnonymousZGirl-I'm glad I caught you off guard! LOL! And we are going to find out what Turbo is hiding in this chapter, so that'll be exciting.**

**Ashuradehedgehog-I...I...oh, you! Proving me wrong! :P I can't help myself! I've gone from sort of liking Creepypastas to writing screenplays based off of Creepypastas, interviewing the creator of Sonic dot exe...**

**Raccon Girl-Actually, no, Turbo isn't being taken over by BEN. (But that is a pretty good idea!) And ugh, that sucks about your computer. Be careful, okay? It could be a virus!**

**greatbigsealover44-Not to worry, my good friend! I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and I hope you'll keep reviewing!**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-It's a decent story. Probably not the best one I've read, but still worth checking out, if you're interested.**

**InsanityCupcakes-Well, it is an interesting OC idea, and I'll see if I can work her into the story. It might be a little hard, though. But thanks for the reviews! They always make me happy! :)**

Chapter Thirty-One

The creepy chorus was still going, but the beat had gotten faster. "Circle, circle. It's easy to win. Circle, circle. Losing is a sin. Circle, circle. Don't budge an inch. Circle, circle. You die if you flinch. Circle, circle, circle, circle..."

"You're wondering why I am here. Turbo thought he could get rid of me with an exorcism. You can't exorcise me," BEN explained to his prisoners, as calm as could be. "Oh, I had hoped that the lying Lulu and the terrible Turbo would be the ones to come here. No matter. You two can help us with our plans."

"What plans are those?" Knuckles shouted.

"And what do you mean, 'our'? Who are you working with?" BEN actually blushed and looked a little guilty, like he had said something that he wasn't supposed to.

"Oh, no, I've ruined the surprise. Please, excuse me for a moment while I go see to the grand plan to take over the arcade. Kiyoshi, make yourself useful and keep an eye on them for me. If anything funny happens, I want for you to kill her first," he ordered, pointing at Alicia. The other ghost-like shapes followed him out of The Theater.

Alicia hated the way that Kiyoshi was looking at her: with hatred, desire, amusement, and bitterness. And his unearthly eyes were cloaked with intense insanity. "Don't you love how helpless women can be?" He sneered at Knuckles. Then he lunged at Alicia and grabbed her by the wrist. He pulled her against him and held a knife to her neck. "Now, watch and cry as I slit your female's throat!"

"Not in a million years!" Knuckles roared, slamming his fist into Kiyoshi's face so hard that teeth went flying out of his mouth like raindrops. When he hit the floor, his avatar vanished but never reappeared. He was dead. "Weren't as strong as you thought you were, huh?" Knuckles jeered.

"We know what the plans are," Alicia said to herself. "But we don't know who else he's working with..."

"I don't care about that! I can take them down!" Knuckles boasted. "Just look at what I did to this Kiyoshi chump!" He pointed to where his body would have been. "Grrr, he's gone. Let's get out of here!" He grabbed her hand and the two of them sprinted towards the exit, which was not far away from where they had been trapped. They arrived at Game Central in moments, and Knuckles was so happy to be back in familiar territory that he hugged the ground. Alicia knew that there was no time to celebrate. They had to act now!

"Knuckles, I need for you to get out of here. Go to Ralph and stay with him for a few days...or until I come for you. Get Bubbles to go back to Sugar Rush. Tell her it's an emergency..." Knuckles was shaking his head.

"What? You've got to be kidding me! I'm going to help fight BEN this time!"

"You have to keep Tails, Amy, and Cream safe!" She reminded him. "I don't want for BEN to come after them!"

"Why do you love bossing me around?" He questioned with a sly twinkle in his entrancing emerald eyes.

"You're so good at following orders...most of the time," she teased. They shared a final embrace and kiss before leaving each other for the different games.

* * *

Lulu had gone to look for Turbo again, but failed to find him in any of the popular race tracks. She set off to the palace, and before she could set foot inside, a scream was heard from inside. But this didn't worry her. As a fan girl, Lulu was prone to screams of pure joy, and this was the very definition of a fan girlish scream. And it belonged to Jubileena. But even Lulu was amazed at the THREE new avatars standing inside of the throne room. The one that Jubileena was impressed with was a young boy with a Middle Eastern ethnicity. He was dressed in red and black clothes, had a baseball cap on backwards, and had headphones over his ears. His candy motif seemed to be the Mars Bar. "You look just like Mutahar!" Jubileena gasped. The other racers didn't know what to say. They were too impressed.

"I know," the boy said. He had a lofty attitude, but it suited him rather well. Jubileena gasped again.

"You even sound like Mutahar!"

"I've told you that's because he created me." Jubileena beamed and threw her arms around him.

"What did I tell you?" She said to Adorabeezle, who was watching the two of them "embrace" with a blank expression. "I knew that my Mutahar would beat the high score!"

"Yeah, but then my creator beat that high score," a new boy bragged. "My name is Jerry Berry! What's-Her-Face, the Moppet Girl, she created me," he explained in one breath.

"But then Pewdie totally kicked your score's butt," the last new character bragged. This was a boy in a chocolate suit with a cream-colored shirt, tie, gloves, and hat. "He was so happy that he named me after the sound he made when he won! WHOOPIE!"

"Your name is Whoopi?" Vanellope made a face, and Rancis smirked. All Lulu could think about was the actress who appeared on episodes of Star Trek and was known by many as one of the hyenas in the Lion King.

"None of us picked our names," Black reminded the president with a smile. She turned back to the new boy. "What's your full name?"

"My name is Whoop E. Pie!" He corrected with a playful gleam in his eye, and Adorabeezle giggled, already smitten with his optimism and rather good looks.

"I'm surprised that the Moppet Girl created a boy instead of a girl character," Minty remarked. "Not that there's anything wrong with you, of course," she said to Jerry, her voice more than a little coy and flirty. Jerry blushed.

"Who cares? The game needs more boys!" Gloyd cried, getting high-fives from the boys present (excluding Jake, who just rolled his eyes and continued to act bored).

"Hey, has anyone seen Turbo around, speaking of guys?" Lulu shouted, trying to get the attention on her. This was when Alicia and Bubbles entered. Alicia looked too out-of-breath for words, but Bubbles was just the opposite.

"GUYS, GUYS, LISTEN TO ME!" She hollered. The children focused on her, and Lulu remembered that the oldest person in the room usually had the most authority. "Okay, so I was in Fix-It Felix Junior, which I don't normally do because Felix scares the fudge out of me, but then Knuckles comes in and he says that BEN is alive and he's in another game and he's planning to take over the arcade so what I'm saying now is that WE'RE IN TROUBLE!"

The racers became hysterical. Cindy ran to the Swizz and hugged him for comfort; the three newest characters looked plain confused; and Vanellope glitched as her mind raced to formulate a good plan. "Where is Candlehead?" Taffyta panicked. "And where is Jenna?" She began bawling again. "Oh, gum, BEN got them...my best friend..."

"No, he hasn't! I'll go get them!" Crumbelina volunteered, running out of the palace. Taffyta stopped crying when Caleb began making accusations.

"Turbo is behind this, I know it!" He shouted.

"You don't have any proof of that!" Black protested, and the Turbo Defenders nodded in agreement.

Vanellope whistled, and her "subjects" looked to her. "But we do know that BEN is back, and we need to stop him before the arcade opens! Let's find Turbo first, then we're going to Wheatley to see if he knows what the fudge is going on!" She shouted.

* * *

Although the search party took the racers to all corners of Sugar Rush, Lulu found Turbo within a matter of seconds: by the ruins of the Diet Cola Mountain. He wasn't racing. He was sitting on a boulder, staring off into space. He jumped when Lulu sat down beside him. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked in a quiet voice, scooting close to him. He shook his head, and she moved closer. "You can trust me, and I really like you," she said. "But you've been making me worry all day because you're acting like we're in some kind of danger."

"Danger? Who said anything about that? Not me, that's for sure!" Turbo chuckled. "It's not like I created a back-up file of Sonic dot exe and MARIO or that they can launch as soon as the old versions of the games are destroyed. And it's not like they can come after us or leave their games this time! Everything is totally fine, right?" Lulu gawked at him, speechless.

"Please, for the love of GLaDOS, tell me that you are not serious," she pleaded when she was able to speak again.

"Tell you that he's not serious about what?" Lulu jumped about a foot in the air. She had not heard Crumbelina, Candlehead, or Cindy sneak up behind her. The three stood there, frowning, waiting for the explanation. "This is going to be good, right?" Cindy asked, excited.

"It better be," Candlehead snapped. "You had to take me away from Tails for BEN?" She said to Crumbelina, who shrugged.

"Why didn't you just return with Bubbles when she left Ralph's place?"

"I didn't want to!" Candlehead said. Lulu cut into their conversation.

"Did you two find Jenna?"

"We're going to," Crumbelina replied. "We thought that we should come back here and see if she had returned. And then Vanellope told us that nobody was looking by Diet Cola Mountain and asked if we could drive by here, and we said sure. But we're going to Mario's place next to look for her. But first...what is it that you don't want Turbo to be serious about?" She demanded. Lulu sighed.

"Okay...this is the truth. He's not going to tell you, so I will..."

* * *

Jenna felt like screaming, crying, and laughing all at once. One minute she was going to hack her favorite game of all time. The next, she was being comforted by the children of the villain she loved. THEN, she was proposed to by the same villain! (She had, of course, accepted.) And now...that man had told the rest of his children the news of his engagement. They had not reacted well. "Look, isn't this great? She can stay here and help you guys defeat the players so that they can't beat the game," Bowser tried to explain, but his children got harder to control. Whatever they could get their claws on was thrown at their father.

"I hate you!" Ludwig shouted. "I wish that she was dead and would never regenerate!" He pointed at Jenna, who ducked to avoid being hit with a hammer.

"Well, I wish that you were dead and Mommy was still alive!" Bowser Junior sobbed.

"None of you would exist if it weren't for me!" Bowser shouted at the top of his lungs. "And that's especially true for YOU, YOUNG KOOPA!" He barked at Bowser Junior, who flinched and cried harder.

"Just shut up, Dad!" Roy screamed.

Jenna glared at him. "You are not supposed to talk to the King of the Koopas, your own father, like that!" She scolded. "I can't believe you!"

"You're not our mother, and you never will be!" Roy told her, snarling. "We're not going to listen to you until our games are over!"

"I know that, okay?" Jenna exploded, and all of the children took a step backwards. "Look, your mom is your mom," she continued, still frustrated. "You guys and I are good friends. At least, that's what I want."

"We have all the friends we need," Morton boasted. "We don't need any more. Why should we?"

"Um, the Goombas and Koopas that you spend hours teaching on how to properly die at the hands of the players do not count as your friends, Warty Morty," Wendy said with a roll of her eyes. Morton clenched his fists.

"Don't call me that!"

"Then stop being rude to Jenna!" She shouted. Bowser roared, now fed up with all of the fighting, and stomped off. Jenna heard him calling out to Kammy Koopa, asking her if they had anything for head pains. Jenna sighed.

"I wish there was a way for me to teach these crazy Koopas how to appreciate ohana," she muttered.

"What's that?" Bowser Junior asked. He had somehow heard her over the yells over his siblings. "Tell us now, or I shall tell Daddy that you hit us!" Wendy dismissed that last threat with a wave of her hand, and Jenna told them about the ancient Disney philosophy when the other children became silent.

"I can't believe you don't know about ohana. Ohana is a Hawaiian word, and it means 'family'. And family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten," she recited. She had seen Lilo and Stitch so many times that she had memorized many of the lines and knew them by heart.

"Hey, what's up, losers?" It was Crumbelina, standing in the doorway and waving at everyone with a small smile. Candlehead was with her, but she hid behind the racer, seeming a little shy for once. "Hey, my little Lemmy-Lemon, how are you? I missed you," Crumbelina pouted.

"Oh, no, our date," Lemmy groaned, burying his face in his arms. "I forgot, I'm so sorry."

"That's okay," Crumbelina smiled. "We'll just have it tomorrow. But Jenna, we need you back in Sugar Rush...now. This is a really big problem." She took a deep breath. "MARIO is back, and he might be working with the Evil Sonic and BEN again."

"Why?" Jenna moaned. "Why does everything happen to us? We're good people, aren't we? We don't deserve to go up against the evils of the gaming universe."

* * *

_Kiyoshi is from the Creepypasta KiyoshiSNES. He was, in fact, a real person: a Japanese serial killer. He was executed by hanging._

_The OCs belong to their respective owners. I only own Moonar Bar and Whoop E. Pie. Jerry Berry belongs to JarrettSoon._

_And for those of you who don't know what a Whoopie Pie is...I pity you. *eyes tear up* So tasty...so wonderful...the tastiest and most wonderful of all that is tasty and wonderful..._

_Review, please! :)_


	32. Chapter 32

**JarrettSoon-I LOVE THAT OC idea! I am so going to be using her in one of the one-shots in the future!**

**KylaSoulSongAlchemist-Um...okay? Stop eating people, okay? We don't people...but we do review stories, so that's good. You can keep doing that.**

**InsanityCupcakes-Read the end of the chapter, and I think that you'll find some comforting news there. Also, WOW, that's a coincidence! Thanks for reading and reviewing!**

**Bloody NailBunny-Wow. Um...thanks for the review, I guess...?**

**greatbigsealover44-I had a lot of fun writing that part, lol. Thanks for reviewing and sharing my appreciation for the delicious yummy Whoopie Pie!**

**Raccon Girl-Wow, you're still in school? That sucks! And yes, there are new racers! And that's good about your laptop. Keep me posted on that, okay?**

**AnonymousZGirl-Don't worry. Give the Koopalings time, and they'll get used to Jenna. I'm thinking that I'm going to dedicate some of the one-shots to them bonding with Jenna, but I'm also thinking that some of your OCs can be used, too!**

**Ashuradehedgehog-Uh...DUH! That's who the character is named after, lol!**

Chapter Thirty-Two

Turbo was being held in the fungeon, although many were against him being there. "He's one of us now," Black tried to get across in his defense. "We should at least treat him like that."

"I don't like it, either," Snowanna admitted in private to her. "But we don't have a choice. He's so unpredictable."

"That's why we all have to be there when he talks," Red said to his sister. He gave her a brief hug. "Everything is going to be okay," he promised her.

If only Turbo agreed with that statement. Being locked up in Vanellope's old prison cell was bringing back painful memories of his old self, and now the children were looking at him like they no longer respected him. "Are you going to take away my racing privileges and banish me from Sugar Rush?" He gulped.

"No, we aren't. We just want to know why you did it," Vanellope shrugged. "Tell us so that we can kick their molasses again, and then we'll all be cool again, right?"

"I don't think we should," Jake interrupted. "We can get rid of this, the latest and greatest versions of Sonic dot exe and MARIO, but who knows that there aren't more versions? That they won't keep coming back? That he's just stalling us for more time?"

Turbo knew that answering any of these questions would be suicide, so he turned back to Vanellope. "When I took over your game, I didn't want for all of my hard work to be for nothing. I designed a back-up program for both of the hacked games and gave the lead characters the goal of taking over the arcade. The plan was this: once they took over, I would be allowed to race in whichever game I wanted to. Unfortunately, the data was too powerful for even me to control. I had thought that the versions of the games before them were impossible to defeat, but two people proved me wrong." He glared at Alicia and Jenna.

"I'm not sorry for what I did," Jenna snapped. "And I know that we can break these games again."

"Let me get this straight," Alicia said, closing her eyes. "In this other game...there is another Knuckles...and he is being tortured by the Corrupted Sonic...just like the last time." She opened her eyes and gave him a toothy grin. "If this is true, there is going to be a problem."

"It sort of is, and it sort of isn't," Turbo confessed, looking really terrified of what Alicia was saying.

"Don't give us any of that halfway crud!" Taffyta growled. "You've been playing games with us for years, and we're sick of it!"

"Okay, so no, there isn't another Knuckles in the new Sonic dot exe! If you want the truth, then you have to go to Portal!" He shouted. "I'm not playing with any of you kids this time!"

"We all are going to Portal," Vanellope declared. "You're coming with us." Turbo sighed in relief when she had Sour Bill go forth and free him from the "glitch-proof" chains.

"There's only one thing that I don't understand," Candlehead remarked. "What does BEN have to do with all of this? Why would he be working with MARIO and Corrupted Sonic to take over the arcade?"

"One thing that I learned from altering the codes of Sugar Rush was that the mind of a child is very easy to corrupt," Turbo replied, and the children scowled or looked ashamed. "It's not your fault," he said. "You just have to tell the kid what he wants to hear..."

* * *

Wheatley was waiting for them. "I was about to get somebody to go and find you guys," he announced in a cool tone not unlike the one used by GLaDOS. Speaking of her, she was also in the room, watching the screen.

"Replay the footage," she ordered Wheatley. "They need to see this." Wheatley did not protest. He obeyed. And what they saw was shocking beyond belief.

"Kids, don't look at the screen," Alicia ordered when the game began as it had in the past. "I don't want for you to see this. It's going to give you bad dreams." The more timid racers, including Candlehead, Rancis, and Jubileena, covered their eyes. Others, like Taffyta and Vanellope and a few of the other boys, couldn't resist the urge to peek through their fingers.

Knuckles, Tails, Amy, and Cream were running through a forest. At least, that's what it looked like: a forest. At first, they were in the middle of a gray world with static, snowy effects. But they would pass by objects that blended into the background. Alicia could only assume that they were trees. In the background, moans and screams of men and women came, but only every so often.

More foreign writing was written across the screen, and Corrupted Sonic was speaking in this strange language as he approached Knuckles and Tails. He touched their faces for only a few seconds, but what happened was disturbing. The eyes of both Tails and Knuckles turned black and began bleeding. Their fur darkened as looks of sadness consumed their faces. Turbo, meanwhile, was translating what Corrupted Sonic was saying.

"The hand of darkness casts it's shadow upon you. Forever walk the world in my creed and do as I would. You will become invincible as you should, curse the world of light and choke in my harboring darkness. Your world belongs to you but my control is absolute. Curse those who are close to you, join the forces of mine, and bring about the dark age." Turbo's face was as green as grass. "Turn it off now. I don't want to look at it anymore."

"Why not?" Caleb questioned. "You made it, right? You don't want to admire your handiwork?" Wheatley was quiet as his robotic hand moved to the button that would turn off the footage. But something was different now on the screen. Corrupted Sonic, Corrupted Tails, and Corrupted Knuckles were staring straight into the screen, and it was their leader that spoke.

"Don't you dare touch that button." Wheatley froze, and everyone stared at the screen, unable to believe it. Corrupted Sonic grinned, and Jenna gagged when blood dripped from his fangs. He grabbed onto Amy, who was paralyzed from fear. "This is what is going to happen if you dare look away from any of us." He sank his teeth into her neck as she screamed with agony and then tackled her to the ground. For a minute, the two of them disappeared from the screen, but when they reappeared, Corrupted Sonic was still grinning and gloating. Amy, on the other hand...was no longer okay. Her body had holes in it: not bleeding holes or bullet holes, just holes. And her skin was gray, no longer pink. "Meet us in the Trojan Game of the computers if you want to see your friends again. We only want the three girls," Corrupted Sonic ordered. "I will kill you, you know. We all will. You know nothing, and you mean nothing to us."

Wheatley lost it. He turned off the screen before more threats and ultimatums could be issued. "If those girls are so worthless and mean nothing to him, then why is he asking for them?" Alicia was freaking out even more than he was. She had told Knuckles to stay with Ralph...why didn't he listen?

"Um, there are more than just three girls," Black pointed out, rolling her red eyes. "So which of us does he want?"

"You are NOT going," Gloyd insisted, grabbing onto her arm. Red nodded in agreement.

"As president of Sugar Rush, I should be the one to..." Vanellope was ready to do the right thing again, but Rancis placed his finger over her lips, silencing her.

"None of us are going," he told her.

"He wants us," Alicia realized, holding onto a chair for support. The children stared at her, confused but intrigued. "They only want us: me, Lulu, and Jenna."

Turbo shook his head. "You can't go."

"What are you going to do, forbid them to go?" Vanellope mocked. "That's my job! As the president of Sugar Rush, I forbid you three from going to see those creeps!"

"You saw what he did to Amy!" Lulu argued. "Do you want for him to do that to the rest of the characters in the arcade?" Vanellope fell silent. "That's what I thought. If you want for everything to continue as it always has been, then you'll let us go to the new Trojan Game."

"I guess it kind of helps that we're already in the computer section," Bubbles mused.

"Yeah," Jenna muttered, not really glad about being close to the danger she had to face. "That's really good..."

* * *

_I'm really sorry to say this, but we're getting close to the end of this story. The good news: even after it's finished, the story will be updated with the sequel one-shots! I already have some planned, including fluff with Candlehead and Tails; fluff with Crumbelina and Lemmy; fluff with Jubileena and Mutahar; and some interesting installments involving Bubbles and Ralph. But there's more, I promise! So many OCs have been submitted...there's probably going to be a thousand chapters just to talk about them all, LOL!_

_Also, you may have noticed that Jenna hasn't been reviewing. The truth of the matter is that she hasn't been able to use a computer for quite some time, and she won't be able to until the end of this month. Until she is able to use one, I feel really uncomfortable about starting a new fan girl story without her input. So...in addition to the one-shots, I will be updating my Roger Rabbit story! Yay!_

_Oh, and some of you might be wondering why I didn't update yesterday. I'll give you a hint: one word, three letters. If you said "Dad", then you get a cookie for guessing correctly!_

_The OCs belong to their respective owners._

_Review, please! :)_


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